Given the atrocities they have suffered in the past and the autonomy they are enjoying now, Kosovo's Albanians will never accept continued Serbian sovereignty. The time has come to give them what they want -- independence.

Russia stirs concern with gestures toward two Georgian breakaway provinces. Moscow’s moves follow Kosovo’s secession and NATO expansion promises.

Political land mines loom beyond Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia.

Kosovo is expected to declare independence within the next month. Russia says this could trigger instability in other nearby breakaway regions.

A UN envoy is proposing phased independence for Kosovo, nearly eight years after Belgrade’s dominion over the province ended.

Nationalists won Serbia’s general elections but may not have pulled in enough votes to form a government. Kosovo's final status and the stability of a beleaguered corner of southeastern Europe remain at stake.

Kosovo's independence is in view, experts say, after years of war, occupation, ethnic infighting, and protracted negotiations. Final settlement talks are aiming to close a chapter on one of Europe's most intractable disputes.

Listen to CFR Senior Fellow Stephen Sestanovich discuss the upcoming presidential elections in Russia and the recent declaration of independence by Kosovo.

Recent talks in Vienna have revived speculation about the prospects for a near-term solution to the final status of Kosovo. Some experts believe an agreement on Kosovo's independence could be on the horizon, though there are still myriad factors that could influence efforts to resolve the province's status.

Today's arrest of Radko Mladic, accused mastermind of the slaughter at Srebrenica, will help clear the way for Serbia's accession to the European Union and is a step forward for the region, says CFR's Charles Kupchan.

Interview: CFR's Charles A. Kupchan says recognizing Kosovo as independent is the best pragmatic solution from a list of bad options.

Washington’s representative to talks on Kosovo, Frank G. Wisner, says Serbia will never recognize an independent Kosovo and that Russia’s role has been “unbelievably regrettable.”

Charles A. Kupchan, CFR’s top Europe expert, says with Kosovo on the cusp of announcing independence, he finds the continued Russian opposition “perplexing.”

Richard C. Holbrooke, the architect of the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnia war, says Russia’s uncooperative attitude in Kosovo combined with western inaction could spark renewed conflict.

A top U.S. State Department official on Balkan policy says Serbia must begin participating in final talks over the conditional independence of Kosovo or face increased isolation from Europe.

Last summer, UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari was tasked by the Security Council with resolving the question of Kosovo's future status, with support from U.S. and European Union envoys. As the process draws to a close, this United States Institute of Peace briefing discusses potential drivers of conflict in Kosovo during the status decision and in the period thereafter.

This report from USIP gives details of a public discussion in November 2006 of the Kosovo Internal Security Sector Review (ISSR). The ISSR, conducted by the United Nations Development Program, was a non-traditional approach to security sector review. The program evaluated Kosovo's security situation from the inside out, looking at the threat of insecurity with the help and participation of the citizens of Kosovo. With talks on the future status of Kosovo well underway, the international community must prioritize security sector reform, says USIP. Stability in the region will hinge on Kosovo's ability to maintain security for all its citizens. Security will be the key to economic development, civic responsibility, and productive relations both among Kosovo's citizens and between Kosovo and its neighbors in the Balkans.

This link is to a report from the United States Institute for Peace’s report on ethnic conflict in Kosovo. The report argues that the international community's military and financial investments in the Balkans over the past fifteen years have led to substantial improvements in most of the territories of the former Yugoslavia, but that this progress will be put at risk if talks on Kosovo's status lead to de facto ethnoterritorial separation, with Serbs governed on their own territory by Belgrade. Partition could trigger another wave of violence, mass displacement of civilians, and instability in multiethnic states of the region.

This report from the International Crisis Group argues that as Kosovo comes closer to achieving statehood, more planning for Kosovo's security is required. The report argues that a key component of post-independence security structures should be an army built in part upon the Kosovo Protection Corps, oriented to international missions like peacekeeping and subject in the first years to strict NATO control and limitations on its size and capabilities.