Timeline: Kosovo since 2008

PRISTINA (Reuters) - The International Court of Justice in The Hague will issue an advisory opinion on Thursday on the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence.

Kosovo's independence is recognized by 69 United Nations members, mainly Western European countries and the United States. Serbia and Russia are opposed to it.

Here is a chronology of events since February 17, 2008, when Kosovo declared independence:

2008

Feb 19, 2008 - Kosovo Serbs opposing Kosovo's independence burn down a border crossing and attack another.

March 1 - Refusing to take orders from Albanian-dominated command in Pristina, about 300 Serb police officers turn in their weapons, radios and badges.

March 17 - Serbs clash with U.N. police and NATO peacekeepers in Mitrovica after security forces storm a U.N. court there. One Ukrainian police officer dies of injuries.

May 11 - Serbia holds parliamentary and local elections in Kosovo.

June 11 - Kosovo adopts a wordless national anthem to avoid offending its Serb minority.

June 12 - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proposes a six point plan to reshape the U.N. mission to allow the European Union to take on key tasks. Despite many doubts the plan is accepted by Pristina and Belgrade.

June 15 - Kosovo's first constitution as an independent state comes into force.

June 28 - Hardline Serbs convene their own assembly in the divided city of Mitrovica, in a challenge to the new state's ethnic Albanian majority and its Western backers.

Oct 2 - Thousands of Kosovo Serbs protest in Mitrovica against the deployment of a European Union police and justice mission (EULEX).

Oct 8 - The U.N. General Assembly approves Serbia's request to ask the International Court of Justice whether Kosovo's secession was legal.

Dec 9 - The EULEX mission is deployed in Kosovo.

2009

Jan 21, 2009 - Kosovo Security Force is launched. The 2,500 personnel and 800 reservist force undertakes missions such as crisis response, bomb disposal and civil protection.

March 16 - Kosovo's border police refuse to allow a Belgrade government delegation to cross the border, weeks after Kosovo warned Serbian officials to seek entry permission beforehand.

May 8 - The IMF offers membership to Kosovo.

June 29 - Kosovo gets World Bank membership.

June 30 - About 300 Serb police officers return to work after 16 months of refusing to take orders from Kosovo authorities.

Oct 17 - Kosovo and Macedonian parliaments ratify an agreement ending an eight-year border dispute.

Nov 15 - Kosovo holds local elections, its first as an independent country.

2010

May 30, 2010 - NATO peacekeepers and police separate thousands of ethnic Albanians and Serbs in Mitrovica in the worst ethnic unrest since independence.

July 2 - An explosion kills one person and injures 10 in the Serb part of Mitrovica during a protest.

July 5 - A gunman shoots and slightly injures an ethnic Serb member of the Kosovo parliament.