West due to circulate UN draft on Kosovo

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and Europeans intend to circulate a resolution that would grant independence to Kosovo at the U.N. Security Council on Friday, despite a fresh hint from Russia that it could veto the plan.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Thursday he expected a draft text to go to the 15 council members urging implementation of a U.N. proposal giving the province effective independence from Serbia under European Union supervision.

Khalilzad was speaking after his Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin, refused to rule out a veto of the plan, saying Moscow needed to keep all options open on a proposal strongly opposed by its allies in Belgrade.

Following a Security Council debate on Kosovo, Churkin also spoke of irreconcilable differences between Western and Russian ideas for next steps on the mainly ethnic Albanian province.

But Churkin made no specific veto threat and despite his uncompromising tone, Western envoys suggested Russia was being more flexible in closed-door negotiations on a resolution to follow up the plan proposed by U.N. mediator Martti Ahtisaari.

Khalilzad, who earlier said he believed a majority of council members supported the plan, told a group of reporters the issue was whether Russia would abstain or veto.

"At this point they have not indicated whether they have made up their mind on this," he said. "They have a real problem with the reference to independence."

The draft resolution is based on a U.S.-European working paper of 13 points, distributed last week. But a rival Russian list says conditions for minority Serbs in Kosovo are not yet in place and negotiations should continue.