“The unilateral and illegitimate declaration of Kosovo’s independence should not be linked to the secession of the Donbas since the population of the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk voted to secede from Ukraine in a referendum which was not the case with Kosovo,” he told Insajder TV.
The Russian TASS news agency reported President Putin as telling UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that the International Court of Justice ruling on Kosovo said “that in exercising the right to self-determination, the territory of a state is not obliged to apply for permission to declare its sovereignty to the country’s central authorities”. That statement was interepreted by Serbian media and at least one diplomat to mean that Moscow has de facto recognized Kosovo.
According to the ambassador, there are no signs that Russia could change its stand on the Kosovo issue. He added that the issue remains a precedent in international law.
