Russia has repeatedly said that sovereignty for the UN-administered Serbian province of Kosovo, which is sought by the ethnic Albanian majority but opposed by Belgrade, could have negative consequences for conflicts in the former Soviet Union that erupted in the early 1990s.
"It is extremely important to avoid a situation when one approach is taken to the Kosovo problem and another one to similar conflicts in other regions," Vladimir Titov said.
Russia has peacekeepers stationed in the zones of three conflicts in the former Soviet Union. Two of them are in Georgia, where the self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia refuse to recognize Tbilisi's rule, and the other is in Moldova, where the unrecognized Transdnestr has sought to break away from the central authorities.
"For us it is obvious that the Kosovo factor has influenced processes in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transdnestr, and other regions in Europe and the world," Titov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned in July against any double standards with regard to the unrecognized republics in Georgia and Moldova and said there had always been contradictions in the principles of international law.
"[Russia] wants and will insist on decisions to be based on a universal principle to prevent cases when approaches to the regions like Kosovo are different from those to Abkhazia or South Ossetia, as it is incorrect," the president said during a Web cast.
Titov said status for Kosov was still to be defined and added that Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council and one of the six-nation Kosovo Contact Group, would continue efforts to help find a solution that would be approved by the UN, but insisted a solution should not be imposed by one of the countries involved.
