Russian Journalist Earlier Arrested at Kosovo Border Checkpoint Released and Safe

Earlier, the interior minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, Xhelal Svecla, said that Russian journalist for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, Daria Aslamova, had been arrested at a border security checkpoint in Kosovo on Saturday.

Russian journalist Daria Aslamova has been released after arrest in Kosovo, the paper reported.

The journalist has contacted the paper to say that she is currently in Serbia's border town of Raska.

The Russian embassy to Serbia has confirmed that the correspondent is safe, adding that her detention was groundless.

"Under false pretexts, the Kosovars did not let Aslamova enter the territory of the province, and ludicrously accused her of ‘working for the Russian secret services,’ they detained her for several hours, prohibited using her cell phone and took all her personal belongings for a search," the embassy added.

The embassy has immediately reported the incident to the international missions in the region, in particular, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), as well as the UN Secretariat.

The Russian embassy also regarded "the groundless detention of Daria Aslamova another provocation by Kosovo's interim self-governing bodies" and an example of Pristina's complete disregard for basic democratic principles, including media freedom.

"We call on the UN Secretariat, UNMIK, the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] Mission in Kosovo, the EU Rule of Law Mission and the relevant international organizations to provide an immediate and appropriate public assessment of the incident," the Russian diplomatic mission added.

Earlier, the interior minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, Xhelal Svecla, said that Aslamova had been arrested at a northern border security checkpoint while attempting to cross into Kosovo.

"Many countries have proved that she was engaged in espionage for Russian military intelligence and that she was pretending to be a journalist," Svecla wrote on Facebook*.

He also posted photos of Aslamova from the Komsomolskaya Pravda website, where the Russian journalist is seen next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in 2020 and with Syrian President Bashar Assad during her 2016 interview.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper said in a statement on its website that Aslamova was working on a special report in Serbia amid the aggravation of the Serbia-Kosovo conflict but has not been keeping in touch with the editorial office.

Pristina has declared Aslamova persona non-grata and banned her from entering Kosovo within the next five years.

The recent flare-up between Serbia and Kosovo, which Belgrade sees as its breakaway region, was triggered when Pristina announced plans to introduce new border rules from 1 August.

They would have restricted entry from Serbia with Serbian-issued IDs and license plates, which must be exchanged for Kosovo-issued documents at the border.

The tensions at the border pushed Serbs to set up roadblocks. Kosovo authorities in Pristina eventually decided to postpone implementing the new regulations until 1 September, on condition that the roadblocks are removed.

Belgrade considers Kosovo and Metohia to be part of Serbia, a view that is enshrined in UN resolution 1422.

* Activity of Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is banned in Russia as extremist.