FACTBOX-Breakaway regions look to Kosovo precedent

(Reuters) - Serbs and Albanians hold direct talks on Friday on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in a last-ditch diplomatic bid to decide the fate of the breakaway Serbian province.

The West supports independence, but insists it would not set a precedent. Other regions of the world, notably in the former Soviet Union, disagree. Following are a few of the regions that might look with interest at the Kosovo case:

TRANSDNIESTRIA - Moldova

** A tiny sliver of land on the Dniestr river, Transdniestria broke away from Moldova in September 1990. A brief war killed hundreds before Russian troops intervened. The region of 550,000 people is dominated by Russian-speaking Slavs, who pressed for independence fearing Moldova's Romanian-speaking majority would one day join Romania to the south. Around 1,200 Russian troops remain. Transdniestria covers one eighth of Moldovan territory but is home to the bulk of Moldova's industrial base.

ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA - Georgia

** Home to 200,000 people, Abkhazia is sandwiched between the Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains and was once a renowned tourist destination. It fought a 1992-3 war against Georgia and effectively rules itself. It was isolated for years after the war but has since forged closer ties with Russia, which has given Abkhaz residents passports and pensions. South Ossetia fought to throw off Georgian rule in the early 1990s. A ceasefire was signed but the violence has threatened to reignite. Russia has peacekeepers in both regions.

NAGORNO-KARABAKH - Azerbaijan

** Sporadic clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh between Azeri and local ethnic Armenian irregulars began in 1998, escalating by 1992 into full-scale hostilities between Azeri forces and troops from Armenia. About 35,000 people died and hundreds of thousands fled before a ceasefire was signed in 1994. The territory remains part of Azerbaijan but is controlled by Armenian forces. A major BP-led pipeline linking Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea oil fields to world markets passes a few kilometres from the conflict zone.

PAPUA - Indonesia