Publicist Enver Robelli writes that although the case of Crimea is a great deal different to that of Kosovo, this hasn’t prevented supporters of the Russian President Vladimir Putin to draw parallels between the two cases.
Robelli says comparison of territorial disputes is very often absurd and every state-building process has its own specifics. Some result as success stories, like East Timor, Kosovo, and Eritrea while others remain halfway because of the unfavourable circumstances in the global political scene, like Tibet, the Palestinian Territories, Chechnya.
He goes on to quote Marc Weller, international law professor in University of Cambridge, who claims that comparison between Kosovo and Crimea cannot be made for a number of reasons. In Kosovo, NATO intervened to put an end to the brutality of Serb forces and only after the UN in several prior resolutions condemned the human rights violations and warned that the conflict threatens peace in the region. Furthermore, airstrikes against Serbia did not happen all of a sudden but only after international community efforts to find a peaceful solution failed. “Another argument: NATO did not invade Kosovo but the territory was put under UN resolution through a special resolution,” Weller said.
Kosovo’s secession from Serbia was a lengthy process and was accompanied by endless negotiations which also included the Russian side. Furthermore, Moscow had signed to the Contact Group principles outlining that the will of the people of Kosovo would be taken into account when determining its final status, recalls Robelli.
