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Kosovo Declares Independence; What's Next?

The parliament of Kosovo, the autonomous region of Serbia, has declared its independence, spurred by the region's majority ethnic Albanians.

The move comes nine years after the United States and NATO began airstrikes against Serbian military targets in the former Yugoslavia.

While it has stated that it has a plan of action in place if Kosovo tried to break away, Serbian officials have ruled out any military action to retain the region. Instead, experts say, the country is likely to use sanctions and trade pressures to influence Kosovo.

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Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli's on-air reporting and analysis have encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.
Andrea Seabrook covers Capitol Hill as NPR's Congressional Correspondent.