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Kosovo authorities declare Russian diplomat persona non-grata

Kosovar PM Ramush Haradinaj said the decision is due is due to "the Russian citizen’s actions against the constitutional system of Kosovo, universal humanitarian values, peace and stability"

Russian diplomat Mikhail Krasnoshchekov Pavel Bushuyev/TASS

Russian diplomat Mikhail Krasnoshchekov

© Pavel Bushuyev/TASS

BELGRADE, May 31. /TASS/. Russian diplomat Mikhail Krasnoshchekov, a staffer of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has been declared persona non grata in the unrecognized republic, the prime minister of the unrecognized territorial entity Ramush Haradinaj said on his Facebook page.

"I asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to declare Russian citizen Mikhail Krasnoshchekov persona non grata on the basis of the constitutional and legal powers. Today a decision was made regarding this person, who works as an international staffer of the United Nations and who was ordered to leave the territory of Kosovo. The decision took effect today, May 31, 2019. It is due to the Russian citizen’s actions against the constitutional system of Kosovo, universal humanitarian values, peace and stability," Haradinaj said.

Read also

Serbia blasts EU’s silence on Kosovo’s refusal to implement Brussels Agreement

He asked the UN Secretary General’s special representative in Kosovo Zahir Tanin to observe this decision.

In the morning of May 28 unrecognized Kosovo’s police intruded into the territory’s northern municipalities. Two Serbs were slightly injured in shootouts. Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said Kosovo police had detained 28 people including Russian national Mikhail Krasnoshchekov, who was later taken to a hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica. Doctor Zlatan Elek said the Russian had suffered head and facial injuries. Shortly afterwards he was transferred to the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade.

The leaders of unrecognized Kosovo argue that the Russian diplomat hindered a special police operation. On Wednesday, the prosecutor’s office of the unrecognized republic declared the intention to demand Krasnoshchekov be stripped of diplomatic immunity and criminal proceedings be launched against him.

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