Kosovo, Serbia and Russia

The debate over the independence of Kosovo, which Serbs consider to be their southern province, has divided the United States and Russia. It is seen as a possible precedent in international relations, which might affect the future of the Western Balkans, as well as many other territorial and ethnic conflicts in the world. This conflict represents a clash between the interests of the Serbian and Albanian populations in Kosovo, as well as two principles of international law: the territorial integrity of sovereign states versus the right of peoples to self-determination (the third and the seventh principles of the Helsinki Decalogue). Russia is among the countries likely to be affected by the Kosovo precedent, as it faces similar problems domestically in Chechnya and throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union - e.g. in South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Transdnistria. Moscow supports Belgrade's position that Kosovo's independence would not be the final stage of the breakup of Yugoslavia, but the starting point of a new round of conflicts, with consequences that could spill beyond the borders of the Western Balkans.