Kosovo Remains A Sore Point Between The West And Russia

Russia's Defense Minister, Sergei Ivanov, issued a warning against Kosovo indepenence on Friday, illustrating that Kosovo is yet a sore point in Western-Russian relations.

Since the 1999 war, Kosovo has been placed under official NATO peacekeeping, involving as many as 50,000 troops at times, with about 7,000 American. Moscow has been roughly satisfied at this arrangement, but has concerns that the next step, independence for Kosovo, which has to be approved by the UN Security Council, with Russia holding veto power.

Russia continues to play a softcore form of Cold War politics and is wary of independence for former Soviet Warsaw Pact states, some of whom have become NATO members. Russia is also concerned with any Western forces or missiles staged on these lands, including just antimissile systems.

It is significant that the Russian Defense Minister issued this statement, and not some other Moscow government official. If anything it illustrates that Russia still has designs that are something similiar to the old system of the Soviet Union that still exist. It also shows how while China is a far more pragmatic international player, Russia just cannot seem to advance much beyond old Soviet style leanings, where even oil has been as weapon against former Soviet empire nations who lean too far to the West.

While many nations such as China believe that trade and a growing economy are the key to world respect, Russia is still playing largely by the old rules.