Russia accused of stoking tensions in Kosovo following arrest of official

Kosovan authorities have accused Moscow of stoking tensions in south-eastern Europe following the arrest of a Russian official on Tuesday morning.

President Hashim Thaci, president of the partially recognised state, said Russian national Mikhail Krasnoshchekov had been arrested after “obstructing police” during what he described as an anti-Mafia raid.

Mr Krasnoshchekov, named as Moscow’s representative on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, had “camouflaged [himself] under a diplomatic veil,” Mr Thaci alleged.

Kosovan authorities later freed the official, but that did not prevent Moscow from reacting angrily to "an outrageous act.”

“The arrest was made despite the fact that the Russian has diplomatic immunity as an employee of the UN,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Tuesday. “It is yet one more example of the provocative line being pushed by the Kosovan leadership.”

In total, 19 people were arrested during dawn raids carried out in the north of the republic, including seven policemen. Witnesses describe seeing several dozen military vehicles and a sustained exchange of fire.

Mr Krasnoshchekov was reportedly hospitalised with minor injuries. According to Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic, a Russian ally, Mr Krasnoshchekov had been "assaulted" by Kosovan officials in the process of his detention.

Mr Vucic said the raids had been organised as a “pretext to force ethnic Serbs from Kosovo,” and announced that Serbian forces had been brought to full battle alert in response.

Russia’s activity in south-eastern Europe has long caused unease in Western capitals, with critics claiming its efforts are directed at sowing instability in the region.

In the course of 18 months, Moscow has been accused of a coup-attempt in Montenegro and provocative arms shipments to Bosnian Serbs.

Moscow’s close relationship with Belgrade is one of few strong bonds it has within Europe – an historical Slavic linkage made deeper by the Kremlin’s uncompromising position on the 1999 Nato military intervention.

Then, despite reports of ethnic cleansing of Albanians, Russia refused to endorse the US-led bombing mission. Yevgeny Primakov, prime minister at the time, famously turned his plane around over the Atlantic in protest at the start of the operation. The US embassy in Moscow also quickly became the scene of angry protests.

Russia refuses to recognise the independence Kosovo subsequently declared in 2008, and regularly harangues the West for what it claims are "double standards" in relation to Crimea, the peninsula annexed from Ukraine in 2014.