A Kosovo police raid in the Serb-dominated area of the breakaway region is a provocation, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said, adding that Pristina’s actions were indulged by the EU and US.

Moscow regards the Tuesday intrusion by Kosovo’s special forces (ROSU) into the Serb-populated northern municipalities as a “provocation,” spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Pristina’s ultimate aim, she explained, is “to intimidate and force out the non-Albanian population and forcibly establish control of the area.”

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On Tuesday morning, Kosovo special forces (ROSU) launched a raid in the town of Zubin Potok in the Serb-dominated north-western part of Kosovo. Gunfire was reportedly heard on the streets as police, according to Pristina, targeted an “organized crime network.” Over a dozen ethnic Serbs are said to have been arrested.

Moscow said the operation violates the agreements between Belgrade and Pristina which prohibit Kosovo special forces, armed with long-barreled weapons, from penetrating deep into the Serbian municipalities.

Nevertheless it happens over and over again in the recent years with the connivance of the KFOR which have the UN Security Council mandate to ensure peace and security in the region.

Such “defiance” of Pristina stems from the “perennial indulgence” on behalf of the EU and the US, Zakharova said, accusing Kosovo leaders of inciting inter-ethnic hostility.

Following the raids, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic put the country’s army on high alert and accused Kosovo authorities of “criminalizing” ethnic Serbs.

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