Kosovo's political leaders have vowed to declare independence in February. Serbia is only ready to grant Kosovo broad autonomy.
Russia is convinced that the idea of Kosovo's independence is far-fetched. Nobody had even mentioned it before NATO bombed Yugoslavia in 1999. At that time, the discussion centered on various parameters of autonomy and a change in Yugoslavia's federal structure.
The bombing dramatically affected Kosovo's demographic make-up - the Serbian population has dwindled from more than 30% to less than 10% and been driven into a ghetto. This fact questions the legitimacy of the province's current authorities. There are grounds to say that the NATO bombing has largely provoked them into channeling Albanian nationalist sentiments into a demand for independence.