Русская версияRussian President Dmitry Medvedev's decision to recognize the
independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has come up against
hefty international criticism.
Georgia has rejected the decree as a
violation of international law.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the recognition of
independence "absolutely not acceptable," adding: "In my opinion,
this contradicts the principle of territorial integrity."
Britain likewise criticized Russia's move, invoking "Georgia's
national integrity."
No parallel in Kosovo
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Due to the repression of the minority, Kosovo had a right to
secede, said experts
However, the same politicians in Washington, Brussels, Berlin and
London which have staunchly defended Georgia's territorial
integrity reacted quite differently in the case of Kosovo, where
they supported the province's right to separate from Serbia without
the approval of the "mother country."
By advocating Kosovo's independence, the West defied complaints
from the Russian government, which saw the split as a violation of
international law.
International legal expert Jochen von Bernstorff from the Max
Planck Institute in Heidelberg said the decision of Western
governments to recognize Kosovo's independence may not have aligned
with the principle of territorial integrity, but they still
shouldn't be accused of practicing a double standard.
The situation in Kosovo was different because the Serbian
government had violated the rights of the minority there. As a
result, NATO intervened and Kosovo was placed under international
control.
Intense discrimination by the state over a long period of time is
grounds for secession -- the legal term used when a region acts on
its own authority to separate from a state --, said von Bernstorff.
But in Georgia, there was no massive violation of minority rights
and therefore no legal basis for secession, he added.
Chechnya
policy doesn't line up
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Polenz said that territorial integrity is important to Russia, when
it comes to Chechnya
Ruprecht Polenz, chairman of the foreign policy committee in the
German parliament, took a similar view.
"The policy of apartheid and the Serbs' use of violence against the
Albanian in Kosovo have no parallel to the conflict between
Ossetians, Abkhazians and Georgians," Polenz, a member of
Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told DW-WORLD.DE.
Instead, Russia is applying a double standard when it comes to the
independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he said.
"Russia claims a right to secession in the regions, while in
Chechnya it has put a high priority on territorial integrity, which
it has defended with extreme brutality against the Chechnyans,"
Polenz said. "That doesn't line up."
The incongruities in Russia's policies will catch up with it in the
end, added the German parliamentarian, and it can't rely on Kosovo
as a precedent.
After all, Russia hasn't yet recognized Kosovo's independence.
(Deutsche Welle)
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