Kosovo Independence Stirs Other Eastern European Enclaves

Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, issued in February, caused alarm among several analysts of Eastern Europe, who warned that Kosovo’s quick action would encourage other restive provinces to follow suit. Most vulnerable to a possible succession is Georgia, positioned in the Caucasus, where borders mean little and breakaway regions proliferated the isthmus.

Georgia currently has achieved some level of calm and stability, after years of warfare with three autonomous and semi-autonomous regions: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Ajaria. While South Ossetians and Ajarians have come more or less to terms with Georgian sovereignty, Abkhazia remains a fierce outpost of the mountainous country, refusing to accede to Georgian rule ever since the crumbling of the Soviet Union led to an independent Georgia. Although Abkhazia declared independence in 1994, following two years of outright warfare with the Georgian government in Tblisi, no country has ever officially recognised it. It is now the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, while rule over the region is torn between two sovereigntist groups.

What makes this arrangement most unstable is the involvement of Russia in Abkhaz affairs. Contrary to its position on Kosovo, Russia has wholeheartedly embraced Abkhaz independence, going as far as to send troops on the Georgian border to defeat its anti-Russian president, Mikhail Saakashvili. Putin has militarily and economically supported the renegade republics of Georgia throughout his presidential career, in an effort to cripple Saakashvili’s control over his country and silence his criticism of Russian policy. Moreover, Putin has granted all Abkhazians Russian citizenship. Putin also periodically flies Russian planes over Georgian airspace, a provocative move designed to irritate his southern neighbour.

Abkhazia is not the only eastern region which has been galvanised by Kosovo’s brash move towards independence. Transdniestr, a sliver of an area within the borders of post-Soviet Moldova, is another place which has stubbornly resisted consolidation with neighbouring states.

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