Word: serbians
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...Europe's major powers - Britain, France and Germany - have, like the United States, encouraged Kosovo's drive for independence, citing the unique circumstances of its breakaway from Serbia. Nearly 1 million ethnic Albanians were forced to flee Serb ruler Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to "cleanse" them from the Serbian province in which they constituted more than 80% of the population. In the wake of the U.S.-led war that expelled Milosevic's troops from Kosovo, the Serbs have refused to negotiate on the future status of the territory, which the international community acknowledged remained legally part of Serbia even when...
...Serbia to Kosovo as a cradle of their national identity. To opponents, however, the question is one of international law, national sovereignty and precedent. China, for example, reacted much like the Spanish and Slovaks, worried that Taiwan could be spurred to declare independence. Russia is invested on the Serbian side both for strategic and fraternal reasons. Wary of national claims in the Caucasus and elsewhere, Russian President Putin has loudly defended Serbia, which shares the same Orthodox Christian roots as Russia. Moscow also sees Kosovo as another case of NATO encroachment into traditional spheres of Russian influence, and will likely...
Kosovo's political status had been undetermined since 1999, when Serbian forces were forced to withdraw under NATO bombs. The province was then placed under U.N. control. Now, Kosovo's elected government is expected to assume more authority, although it will still be closely monitored by members of the newly established European Union mission. The EU will also provide much of the new nation's police force and judiciary, while some 17,000 NATO troops will continue to secure peace...
This was in stark contrast with the mood in Belgrade which was, at best, gloomy, as most Serbs see Kosovo as their historic heartland. Minutes after Thaci finished reading the declaration in Pristina, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica addressed the nation in Belgrade, declaring Kosvo's independence "null and void." "Kosovo's unilateral declaration of a false state is the final act of a policy that started with the NATO aggression against Serbia in 1999," the Prime Minister said in a televised speech spiked with harsh anti-Western sentiments. Most of Kostunica's anger was directed towards the United States...
There was violence as well in Kosovo. In the predominantly Serbian town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, a hand grenade was thrown into the yard of a U.N.-occupied building, causing slight damage and injuring no one. Another grenade was found unexploded nearby, a U.N. police spokesman said...