The principle of territorial integrity of a state is gradually becoming the most recent argument in the dispute of competence to recognize the self-declared republics in the post-Soviet territory. Appealing to the world community and playing on different approaches and contradictions between the chief players, mini-mother countries of the former USSR are trying to confirm their right to this or that territory. Especially persisting in the verification of this fact are Azerbaijan and Georgia. The issue became even more painful after Kosovo's declaration of independence, as South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria and Nagorno Karabakh have no less authority and claims for recognition of their independence than the Albanians of Kosovo had.