Quote Originally Posted by Ramil View Post
Hanna, the precedence was first set in Kosovo. Had it not been the secession of Kosovo I don't think Russia would dared to support Crimea. Then again, maybe not. We'll never know.
Rational European politicians kept saying back then that to allow Kosovo to secede is to open Pandora's box.
How would you say that this compares (or not) with Chechnya in the 1990s?
I really didn't pay any attention to that when it happened, and I have not read up on it, so sorry about my ignorance.
But they wanted to be independent and become a moslem state, didn't they, and become allies with countries like Saudi Arabia.....

But couldn't you say that Russia's position in relation to Chechnya has some similarities to Ukraine's position in relation to Crimea...?
Neither wanted to lose their region...

PS- am aware that a sort of "compromise" solution is in place in Chechnya and that they are "almost " getting their moslem state, without actually leaving the Russian Federation.