>Kosovo's independence will strengthen a bid by the Armenian-backed breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to be recognized as a state, Armenia's prime minister Serzh Sarksyan told Reuters in an interview.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSL166671420080217

Russia suggested Friday that Kosovo's expected Western-backed declaration of independence from Serbia will affect its policy on two separatist regions in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. But it stopped short of saying it would recognize the breakaway provinces.

"The declaration and recognition of the independence of Kosovo will doubtless have to be taken into account as far as the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia is concerned," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZyGrierS_SqU5QENS7E1sMu7JTAD8UR20Q80