Russia’s Involvement in the Kosovo Case: Defending Serbian Interests or Securing Its Own Influence in Europe?

Article


Radeljic, B. 2017. Russia’s Involvement in the Kosovo Case: Defending Serbian Interests or Securing Its Own Influence in Europe? Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. 6 (2), pp. 273-300. https://doi.org/10.1353/reg.2017.0017
AuthorsRadeljic, B.
Abstract

This article examines Russia’s involvement in the Kosovo question. It shows that the Russian leadership has generally favored the Serbian authorities, but more importantly for its own influence, that it felt the urge to oppose the 1999 NATO intervention and the post-interventionist Western rhetoric. The argument that Russia has been primarily concerned with strengthening its own position and that involvement in the Kosovo question was expected to serve such an ambition can also be better understood by looking at some recent discrepancies. Namely, the fact that Russia has strongly insisted on the principle of territorial integrity in the case of Serbia but then completely ignored it in the case of Ukraine shows that its loud advocacy of Serbian territorial integrity was merely a strategic instrument to be deployed in European official debates, especially when the post-1999 discussions about Kosovo’s final status took place.

JournalRegion: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia
Journal citation6 (2), pp. 273-300
ISSN2166-4307
Year2017
PublisherSlavica
Accepted author manuscript
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1353/reg.2017.0017
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1353/reg.2017.0017
Publication dates
Print08 Sep 2017
Publication process dates
Deposited30 Jan 2018
Accepted26 Apr 2017
Accepted26 Apr 2017
LicenseAll rights reserved
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