Putin’s response: Kosovo is not Donbas

According to him, a state can exist if it meets three elements: the defined territory, the permanent population and the leadership capacity.

“Kosovo meets all three of these elements,” he said. “In the case of eastern Ukraine, Russia wants to form a non-existent state, as it is part of another state, and this is a major interference in the sovereignty of one state,” Hartwig told Radio Free Europe.

Three days before the start of the invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the two separatist regions of this country, Donetsk and Luhansk, as independent states.

He has tried to justify this action this week, drawing parallels with Kosovo.

In a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Moscow, Putin said the Donbas republics – as Donetsk and Luhansk are commonly known – acted in the same way as Kosovo declared independence.

“It is a fact that many Western countries have recognized Kosovo as an independent state. “We have done the same with the Donbas republics,” Putin said on April 26, according to a statement issued by the Russian presidency.

Donbasi vs. Chuang

In 2014, following a wave of protests in Ukraine that led to the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and began supporting a separatist movement in the east of the country.

After pro-Russian separatists took control of Donbas, they declared its independence in May 2014. Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the Russian-speaking population there has been mistreated by Ukrainian authorities, although such claims have not been substantiated. Apart from Russia, no other country has recognized Donbass independence.

Kosovo, meanwhile, declared its independence in 2008 – nine years after NATO intervention against Serbian military targets ended a nearly two-year war.

More than 13,000 people have been killed in the war and thousands more have gone missing.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in 2010 that Kosovo’s declaration of independence did not violate international law.

Kosovo citizenship has so far been recognized by more than 100 countries, including the United States and most European Union countries.

Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, Richard Caplan, says that NATO intervention, to end the violence of the Serbian army in Kosovo, has had great support, unlike the case of Donbas.

“In 1999, the United Nations Security Council – including Russia – said that there was an inevitable humanitarian crisis in Kosovo. This does not mean that Russia has acknowledged the use of force by NATO. “Russia has clearly opposed this, but here’s the difference… because it is not said about Donbas that the Russian minority there is being endangered or has been endangered by the Government of Ukraine,” Caplan told Radio Free Europe.

He adds that Kosovo Albanians “have long faced persecution by the Belgrade regime. In Donbas, “there have been no such violations, so there is no humanitarian basis for citizenship claims,” ​​he said.

Putin – although he uses Kosovo as an excuse for recognizing Donbas – does not recognize Kosovo’s own statehood.

Russia, as one of Serbia’s biggest supporters in the international arena, even hinders Kosovo’s membership in various international organizations.

Kosovo and Russia, however, have formal relations. The Russian Liaison Office in Prishtina has been open since 2005, although its activity in public is very small.

“Kosovo is not a Crimea either”

Putin’s conversation with the UN chief was not the first time the Russian president has used Kosovo as a benchmark for his decisions.

He did the same when he annexed the Ukrainian Peninsula of Crimea in March 2014. At the time, Putin said that the Crimean people themselves wanted to join Russia.

“Ata [në Krime] “They acted in the same way as the people living in Kosovo – they made the decision for independence and then came to us with a request to join the Russian Federation,” Putin said.

The referendum held in Crimea in 2014 was considered rigged and illegal by the international community.

According to Professor Caplan, the population of Crimea was not in danger before being annexed by Russia.

“They have not been threatened by Ukraine,” he said. Hartwig is of the same line.

“There are big differences in the treatment of the population. Kosovars have been under great pressure from the Serbian Government. “There have been no such situations in Crimea,” said Hartwig, a senior fellow at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

Is Kosovo harmed by Putin’s insistence?

None of the professors believes that Putin can damage the image of Kosovo with the comparisons he makes – whether of Donbas with Kosovo or of Crimea with Kosovo.

“I do not think there will be implications for Kosovo, because years have passed since Kosovo declared independence. “States now have their own positions on Kosovo,” said Caplan.

The future of Donbas?

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has entered its third month. After encountering great resistance from the Ukrainians, the Russian army withdrew from the capital Kiev and surrounding areas, to concentrate the offensive in Donbas.

Clashes between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army in the region have been ongoing since 2014. Since then, more than 14,000 people have been killed there, while hundreds of thousands more have been displaced.

The Russian military has said it intends to “liberate” the eastern regions of Ukraine.

Professor Caplan says Ukraine could face frozen conflict in the east.

“I hesitate to predict the future, but I worry that there will be a frozen conflict, as we have some in the region, in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in Transnistria and other parts of Central Europe. “I am concerned that there may be a continuation of the conflict in these regions and it may be difficult for Ukraine to regain sovereignty in these regions.”

Professor Hartwig says that in the event of a possible compromise between the parties, the solution could resemble a scenario in which the eastern region would have an autonomous status for 15 years and then a referendum would be held.

“In legal terms, [rajoni lindor] will remain part of Ukraine and Ukraine is called to protect the integrity of its territory. There is no doubt here. Politically, Russia will try to occupy these territories and follow the Crimean rule, “to hold a referendum to join Russia,” said Hartwig.

Kiev and Moscow have begun peace talks four days after Russia launched an invasion of its southern neighbor. The parties have had some direct meetings and some with video links, but, so far, without any success.

The war in Ukraine is believed to have killed thousands of people, while more than 5 million have been confirmed as displaced outside Ukraine.

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