Kosovo, officially known as the Republic of Kosovo, is a partially recognised state in the Balkan Peninsula of Southeastern Europe. Its largest city and capital is Pristina. Kosovo is landlocked and is bordered by the Republic of Macedonia to the south, Albania to the west and Montenegro to the northwest; to the north and east, it borders the central part of Serbia, whose government claims the territory of Kosovo as its Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.After a failure to produce results from non-violent resistance to Serbian rule from 1990, and an armed insurgency by Albanians from 1997 to 1999, NATO launched a 78-day assault on FR Yugoslavia to halt the war in Kosovo. In 1999 the United Nations through UNMIK began overseeing the administration of the province after a UN Security Council resolution. On 17 February 2008 Kosovo's Parliament declared independence. Its status is disputed; it is recognised as a sovereign state by 107 UN member states. With the Brussels Agreement of 2013 Serbia accepted the legitimacy of Kosovo institutions and its special status within Serbia, but does not recognise it as an independent country. Under the agreement, public institutions in Kosovo are operated by the Pristina government, rather than Belgrade.The Republic of Kosovo is a member of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, International Road and Transport Union, Regional Cooperation Council, Council of Europe Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Within the European Union, 23 of 28 members have recognised the Republic; Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain have not.
