Упрощенная HTML-версия
Authors: P. Iskenderov
Senior Research Associate, Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of
Sciences (History);
THE ADVISORY OPINION issued by the
International Court of Justice last June said
that "the declaration of independence on the
17th of February 2008 did not violate general
international law"; the Court, however, re-
fused to recognize Kosovo as an international
legal subject thus driving the Kosovo issue
into a legal impasse. The Albanian authorities
of Kosovo which looked forward to a prompt
international recognition were disappointed: only two UN members (Honduras and Kiri-
bati) joined the countries which had recognized Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence.
Today there are 71 of them. In an absence of a more or less coherent EU Balkan policy,
the contradictions between the Serbs and Albanians can be hardly settled within the
framework of its integration models.
The independence of Kosovo threatens the Eurasian expanse with a "string of bloody
conflicts and redrawing of state borders."
Even the openly biased International Crisis Group has to call on the international com-
munity to "renew efforts to achieve a compromise in the name dispute between Greece
and Macedonia, and take other steps to insulate Macedonia as well as Bosnia-Herzegovina
from possible negative repercussions of a Kosovo-Serbia rapprochement."
Such warnings are not given at random: typologically, the Kosovo crisis is one of the
many ethnic crises smoldering in the Balkans and elsewhere. The Kosovo events are
closely connected with the secessionist actions of Albanians in Macedonia and Montene-
gro.
We should not dupe ourselves: the Western politicians and statesmen know absolutely
everything about the past and the patterns of the unsettled Kosovo problem and the se-
rious threat it presents. This is not all: the Western power centers insist on the alleged
uniqueness of the Kosovo case to pursue their own geopolitical interests in the region.
History repeats itself.
Unlike many Western politicians, Russian diplomats at all times looked at the Balkan prob-
lems and their possible settlement as one big issue rather than unconnected cases.
Kosovo: A Unique Case or a Dangerous Precedent?
Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»