Sunday Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia and sent letters to 192 countries asking them to recognize their declaration. Through Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, the US has officially announced its support of Kosovo. Several EU nations plan on doing the same including Germany, France, Italy, and Britain.
Serbia has a strong ally in Russia and Russia has already appealed to the UN security council to stop the “illegal” declaration of independence by Kosovo. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that declaring independence without UN approval is a very dangerous precedent to establish and could encourage widespread separatist movements across the EU. Serbia has recalled its ambassador to the United States and has made it clear that it will never accept an independent Kosovo.
Kosovo has been administered since 1999 by the UN and NATO in response to Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic’s killing of more than 10,000 Albanian separatists in Kosovo. While some countries agree with Russia that this move by Kosovo defies law, many believe that Kosovo should be given different consideration due to the history between it and Serbia, the fact that 90% of its population is Albanian, and its purported commitment to a multi ethnic nation under the rule of law.
Kosovo is home to around 100,000 Serbs who have started rioting to express their displeasure with Kosovo’s move toward separatism. Like many others in the EU, they feel that by going around the UN and appealing directly to other countries to recognize their independent status, Kosovo has acted illegally and this makes the declaration impossible to endorse. In a part of the world rife with changing borders, ethnic tension, and tentative political stability, Kosovo’s push for independence leads many to fear that it will be a spreading phenomena with global consequences.
UPDATE
China now joins Russia as a superpower against Kosovo’s independence. Both countries have veto power on the UN Security Council and have vowed to stop Kosovo from being able to join the UN. What does this mean for the US? While Serbia has already stated that they will not use force to keep Kosovo from separating, they will use all diplomatic means available to them, as will their allies in this. At a time when the US is leaning heavily for Russian support in stalling Iran’s nuclear weapons program this could mean a turnabout on that already rocky partnership.