Abkhazia had also been trying to break away for close to two decades now.
(And a big thanks to the Neo-cons who with their push for recognition of Kosovar "independence" lit this match.)
This Kosovar excuse has been expended long ago. It's essentially bullhockey. The great Putin began his plan to put the old USSR back together again like humpty Dumpty and no one, or no country is going to get in his way without getting decimated.
Any other excuse, be it some dinky little coffee klatch in the middle of nowhere, the U.N. or the world largest superpower will be able to stop them from doing what they have intended to do for more than a decade now. They are rising like the Phoenix, and I seriously doubt we will get in their way at this point in time since there is little concern and even less action from the people directly affected, that being the whole of the European Union and NATO. They are running scared and are paralyzed by political inaction.
And so it goes...