Russia and West square off over Kosovo

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and Europeans on the U.N. Security Council intend to announce their plans on the future status of Kosovo on Friday, giving Russia another day to clarify its position, the U.S. ambassador said.

At issue, is a draft resolution, sponsored by European members of the council and the United States, that Russia says paves the way to Kosovo's independence from Serbia through the back door.

Asked when a decision would be taken on a vote, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters on Thursday, "The clarifying moment will be tomorrow where Russia stands, whether Russia will allow the Security Council to move forward on this or not."

Moscow, an ally of Belgrade which opposes independence for Kosovo, has said clearly the resolution is unacceptable. But its U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, has not officially told council members he would cast a veto.

"There's a firm intention to veto but they're not prepared to say that yet," one European council member said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

No resolution means that Western nations would go outside of the Security Council in their quest to move the breakaway Serbian province toward supervised independence under the European Union rather than the United Nations.

Kosovo, where 90 percent of the 2 million people are ethnic Albanians, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombs forced out Serbian troops that were killing and expelling Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas.

One probable scenario is that the Contact Group of advisers on the Balkans, which includes Europeans, the United States and Russia, would facilitate 120 days of renewed negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, as called for in the draft resolution.