MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. Russia vehemently condemns the provocation put up by Pristina against Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija at the Government of the Republic of Serbia Marko Duric on March 25 in the town of Kosovo Mitrovica, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a phone conversation with Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic.

The two presidents "discussed solutions to the Kosovo crisis in the context of Pristina’s provocation against Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija at the Government of the Republic of Serbia Marko Duric in Kosovo Mitrovica," the Kremlin press service said on Wednesday.

"The Russian side strongly condemns those steps which grossly violate Resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council," it said.

Putin and Vucic "pointed out that the Kosovo settlement should be based on rigorous implementation of the above mentioned resolution," the Kremlin added.

Apart from that, Vucic offered sincere condolences to Putin over the tragedy in the Siberian city of Kemerovo.

The two heads of state focused on "topical issues of multifaceted strategic partnership of Russia and Serbia. Besides, the Serbian president congratulated Putin on winning the presidential election, the Kremlin said.

On Monday, about a hundred of Kosovo’s special police stormed a building where Djuric was holding a meeting with Serbs. The politician was brutally apprehended and taken to Kosovo’s capital of Pristina handcuffed.