MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - Territorial and ethnic conflicts can only be resolved using consistent and universally acceptable principles, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.
"The principles [applied for conflict resolution] have to be universal, as any other policy will not be trusted," the president told the annual Kremlin news conference.
"If somebody thinks that Kosovo should be granted full independence, then why should the Abkhazians and South Ossetians be denied this right," the president said, referring to the long-running conflicts between Georgia and its two breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
"I am not saying that Russia will immediately recognize Abkhazia or South Ossetia as independent countries," Putin said. "However, there are international precedents of the kind."
