Areas of residence of peoples who choose to exercise their right to self-determination and to form own States have become hotbeds of the greatest tension in international relations. This right is enshrined in international law, but not all of the existing States refer to it with due understanding. Many of them, immediately recognizing the legitimacy of one new political formation deny such right in others which are no less legitimate. The author of the article, reflecting on the causes of such behavior of the actors of international political processes, finds its roots primarily in the contradictions of contemporary international law and puts under question whether recognition of the new States by the existing states ought to be considered as the main criterion of their legitimacy. Refs 15.