EN
This article is an attempt to present a generally understood opinion of the Serbs and their various groups, both in Serbia itself and scattered all over the world, about the unilateral Albanian proclamation of independence of Kosovo on 17 February 2008. The author thoroughly examines the Serbian government’s official standpoint, the individual politicians’ opinions as well as positions of the main political parties, the Orthodox Church, numerous organisations, associations, representatives of academic and media circles, etc. The analysis ends with the beginning of December 2008 when Kosovo’s independence was recognised by 54 countries all over the world. The major thread of this paper, i.e. very strong Serbs’ opposition against the aforementioned proclamation of February 17 has been shown against the background of Serbian -Albanian relationship on the turn of the 20th and 21st century with particular emphasis on the years of 2007 -2008. Another factor that the author presents is a vast description of the process of gradual acceptance of Kosovo’s independence by more and more countries and their political and economic motivations in view of legal and political actions undertaken by Belgrade in order to question the legality of the secession act.