"Who actually started to upset the situation in Europe? It wasn't Russia. It was actually us ourselves," said Javier Couso Permuy, a member of the European Parliament, referring to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and Kosovo's unilateral independence.
The Spanish MEP added that Madrid did not recognize Kosovo as an independent nation. In fact, the territory in Southeastern Europe remains partially recognized across the world. Pristina announced independence from Serbia in 2008, without conducting a referendum for all Kosovans to weigh in on the issue.
The MEP is also convinced that the European Union "can't really establish its policy against [Moscow] on the basis of Crimea's incorporation into Russia."
The Crimean peninsula became an integral part of Russia following a referendum which saw almost 100 percent vote in favor of reunification. Russian authorities have repeatedly insisted that the process was carried out in accordance with the international law.
Crimea had referendum — Kosovo had no referendum. Crimea w/o single bullet — Kosovo after 75days of bombing (including cities). Equal cases?
— domi (@krivalj) 6 июня 2015
"Should we not have shown the same stance in all similar circumstances? When Serbia was bombarded by European planes on the question of Kosovo and the borders there, what kind of response came from this hemicycle?" he asked, pointing at the contradiction.
