February 20, 2008
Kosovo's Break From Serbia Splinters World Community
Russia's foreign minister has declared an EU mission to Kosovo illegal days after the Balkan state declared its independence from Serbia.
"To put it mildly, it is a bitter irony that this mission to ensure the supremacy of the law in Kosovo is being sent in breach of the highest international law," Sergei Lavrov said in a press briefing.
Russia and Serbia are in disagreement with the West's interpretation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, adopted in 1999 at the end of the Balkan conflict. The resolution reaffirms "the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," but it also reaffirms "the call in previous resolutions for substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration for Kosovo."
Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since NATO bombing drove out Serbian militants attempting to cleanse the province of its majority Muslim ethnic Albanians. But Kosovo is still home to a minority Serbian population, members of which have torched buildings along the Kosovo-Serbia border following the independence declaration. The flare-up of violence forced U.N. police out of the region and drew NATO troops to the scene. The U.S. and the major EU powers have recognized Serbia's independence, and the EU will be supervising Kosovo's transition to a sovereign state. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana rushed to the region to show his support.
The rift between the West and Russia over Kosovo seems part of a much larger break between those factions. Russia has an interest in this conflict, since it administers provinces -- like Chechnya -- that have been itching to break away from Moscow. Ironically, Russia has been battling neighboring Georgia over two separatist, pro-Moscow provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Russian leaders say the West's interpretation of 1244 could set a precedent for separatism and unrest around the globe.
"It is an... event which has unilaterally upset the balance in the world and could lead to very tragic events in a whole host of areas across the globe where separatist sentiments are warming up," said Patriarch Alexiy II, head of Russia's Orthodox Church.
The Bush administration, which has been pushing the U.N. to recognize Kosovo's sovereignty, denied that Sunday's declaration was precedent-setting.
"We have [a] Kosovo that's been recognized by 20-plus countries.... So the job is to help the Kosovar people build up those institutions for a fully functional, fully functioning, free, independent Kosovo," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at yesterday's press briefing. "We also have an interest in seeing that there is greater stability in the region. Part of the reason why we took the steps we did... in recognizing Kosovo's declaration of independence was to actually increase stability over the long term in the region."
Legal or not, Kosovo's separation from Serbia may simply be a realpolitik solution to an intractable problem. Pristina and Belgrade have never gotten along, and it's nearly impossible to see how they will ever get along. With the possibility of multiethnic cooperation out the window, severing the region into two states may be the only viable outcome. (And if another two-state solution comes to mind, that only underlines the point.)
"Throughout the area, walls of hostility divide ordinary Albanians and Serbs. In spirit as well as fact, multiethnic society is nowhere to be found," wrote Georgetown University's Charles Kupchan in 2005. "The formal separation of Kosovo from Serbia instead offers the best hope for rebuilding moderation and tolerance among ethnic Albanians, making it far more likely that they will eventually live in peace with Serbs, Roma, and the other minority groups among them."
Posted at 12:09 PM
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Bush Administration, Chechnya, EU, Europe, Russia
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