MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia's parliament said Monday that Moscow had the right to review its stance on separatist states in former Soviet republics, if Kosovo is recognized as independent, Interfax news agency reported.

Sovereignty for Kosovo "would give Russia every right to build a new format for its relations with self-proclaimed states," said a declaration adopted by both houses of parliament after Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday.

"Now that the situation in Kosovo has become an international precedent, Russia should view existing territorial conflicts taking into account the Kosovo scenario," the declaration said.

Countries that recognize Kosovo's independence "will be fully responsible for the inevitable heightening of existing territorial conflicts and the appearance of new ones," it continued.

Russian officials have repeatedly warned that Kosovo's break from Serbia could boost the independence bids of separatist movements around the world, including in the four breakaway republics of the former Soviet Union.

Self-proclaimed authorities in Nagorny-Karabakh have claimed independence from Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia, and Transdnistria from Moldova after separatist conflicts in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Russian parliament's declaration also said that the "dismemberment" of Serbia showed a desire to take "the illegal operations of NATO member states against Yugoslavia in 1999 to their logical conclusion."

The declaration was not voted on by parliament but was agreed by the leadership of the two chambers and signed off by the speakers of the Duma and the Federation Council.