German parliament MP Alexander Neu stated that he doesn’t see any difference between the issue of self-declared Kosovo and Crimea.

“In both cases the West has downgraded the UN Charter articles on territorial integrity, what led to creation of precedents”.

He pointed out that unification of Crimea with Russia can be deemed as violation of the UN Charter only if events from nineties of the last century in former Yugoslavia are ignored.

“If we recall the secession of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and international recognition of those states, and recognition of self-declared Kosovo, than we should recognize that the right on the self-determination has the advantage over the principle of territorial integrity. The same could also go for Sudan and South Sudan. In all these cases the West has downgraded the importance of the UN Charter articles on territorial integrity what led to creation of precedents,” said Neu, the MP from the left center Linke party.

“The issue of Crimea is still not closed, and the issue of Serbian province of Kosovo is not closed either. I think that we should maintain discussions over Crimea, as we did in case of Kosovo,” said Neu.