Russia, Moscow, 14 February / corr. Tend News R. Agayev/ The support for unilateral announcement of the independence of Kosovo does have neither moral nor juridical basis, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin stated on 14 February in a press conference.
All member states of United Nations (UN) should follow the resolution 12 44 of the Security Council- recognizing the territorial integrity of Serbia, the head of the Russian government said. According to President, the double standards should not be used concerning the solution of similar problems in different regions of the world.
"They say that Kosovo is a different case, but it had nothing different, it is the same ethnic conflict as the other ones," Putin said and asked the journalists why Europe does not recognize the independence of Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, which has existed for over 40 years.
The President called on to work out the unified solution principles for the conflicts having the separatist roots. Russia will bring up this issue for the discussions in the Security Council of UN, Putin said.
Kosovo is a province of Serbia which has been under United Nations administration since 1999 . While Serbia's sovereignty is recognized by the international community, in practice Serbian governance in the province is virtually non-existent. The province is governed by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) with the help of the local Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG), as well as security provided by NATO -led Kosovo Force (KFOR).
The province is a subject of a long-running political dispute between the Serbian government and Kosovo's largely ethnic-Albanian population. International negotiations began in 2006 , to determine the final status of Kosovo.
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