Ukraine: For Crimea, Secession is Only as Good as Recognition
Mar 15, 2014
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Dan Bilefsky, The New York Times
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PARIS — When Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, with the strong support of the United States, Russia, a staunch ally of the Serbs, insisted that the declaration was a reckless breach of international law.
Now, as Crimea votes Sunday on a referendum on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, Moscow has invoked Kosovo to justify the vote, while it is the United States and Europe that insist Russian and Crimean officials are breaking the law.
As to who is right, that remains a thorny legal question, said James Ker-Lindsay, an expert on secession at the London School of Economics. The legitimacy of any move to secede would ultimately depend on whether many countries beyond Russia recognized it, which seemed doubtful.“You can declare the front room of your house an independent state, but if no one recognizes it, such a declaration is meaningless,” he said.To justify Crimea’s pursuit of independence from Ukraine, Crimean and Russian officials have cited a seminal ruling by the International Court of Justice in July 2010, in which the United Nations’ highest court ruled that Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia did not violate international law.However, while the court had not found Kosovo’s declaration to be illegal, the ruling did not necessarily confer legitimacy on the state of Kosovo, Mr. Ker-Lindsay said. As such, it was not actually the precedent that Russia claims it is.