Kosova: Closer Relations With Serbia Challenged By Crimean Crisis
15 years following a NATO air strike in the Balkans to force Serbia into recognizing Kosova as an independent state, the relations between the two countries eased enough to result in the historic accord on normalization of relations in April 2013. However, the Crimean crisis is likely to bring back old memories and have a negative impact of the association deal, as divisions may appear on the issue between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine.
Below is an article published by The China Post:
When NATO launched its first air campaign on European soil in 1999 to force Serbia to halt its crackdown on independence-seeking Kosovo, the European Union was far from minds of both Belgrade and Pristina.
Now, fifteen years later, the former bitter foes have made their first steps on the European path, after reaching historic accord on normalization of relations last April [2013] under a watchful EU mediation.
Although Serbia steadfastly refuses to recognize the independence of its former, majority ethnic-Albanian province, it has normalized ties to a degree allowing it in January [2014] to open EU membership talks.
Kosovo also has agreement to enter talks on an EU stabilization and association deal — a lesser pact that is the first step on a long path toward possible EU membership.
But the 1999 NATO bombing campaign that lasted 78 days still remains etched deep in public memory.
On March 24 of that year [1999], the Atlantic alliance launched its air strikes — without U.N. Security Council backing — after late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic spurned a peace deal to end his forces' repression of ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting for the independence of Kosovo.
Crimea Referendum Brings Back Memories
The disputed referendum on March 16 this year [2014], in which Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, has brought back memories both in Kosovo and Serbia.
After years of condemning Kosovo's secession, Moscow cited it as a precedent for its actions in Crimea.
Analyst Miodrag Radojevic of Belgrade-based Institute For Political Studies said the link could be made between 1999 NATO bombings and Crimea referendum, as “both have no legitimate legal foundations.”
“But globally, the 1999 bombings were a precedent that has grown into a sort of custom, as we can see nowadays in Crimea,” he said.
After the end of the bombings in June 1999, Kosovo was placed under U.N. administration, with NATO-led peacekeepers providing security on its territory.
