Putin: Crimean leadership follow "Kosovo precedent"

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the Crimean leadership declared independence based on the “well-known Kosovo precedent”, which was created by the western countries themselves.

The Crimean leadership followed the well-known Kosovo precedent, which the western counterparts had set themselves. In the situation clearly similar to that in Crimea they recognized as legitimate the secession of Kosovo from Serbia, thus proving that no decisions from central authorities are required for a unilateral declaration of independence, Russia's ITAR-TASS quotes Putin as saying.

Putin noted that western countries refer to Kosovo as “a special case”, as there had been many victims in the Kosovo conflict.

It is beyond double standards, Putin said. It is a kind of baffling, primitive and blatant cynicism. One can't just twist things to fit their interests, to call something white on one day and black on the next one, he added.

Following the armed rebellion of ethnic Albanian extremists in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo-Metohija, NATO launched a bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, i.e. Serbia, without the consent of the UN Security Council, and forced the Serbian army to retreat from Kosovo.

The United Nations Interim Administration was later established in Kosovo, during which the Albanian minority declared independence on February 17, 2008, with tacit approval and support of the U.S. and other western countries.

In 2010, Serbia sought an advisory opinion on this matter from the International Court of Justice, pointing to the violation of international law and invoking the principle of territorial integrity.

Addressing members of the Federal...