Russia says plan for Kosovo independence is 'land mine' for Balkans [image: Russia says plan for Kosovo independence is 'land mine' for Balkans]
LUXEMBOURG -- A plan backed by the United States for the independence of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo would be a "delayed action land mine" that would foment future conflicts in the Balkans, Russia's foreign minister warned on Monday. Sergei Lavrov was referring to a controversial U.N. plan which would grant the impoverished region of two million people -- 90 percent of them ethnic Albanians -- virtual independence. The province has been under U.N. and NATO control since a brief aerial war in 1999 drove Serb forces out of the region. "There should be no unilateral efforts to impose solutions because these Balkan nations need to live together in the future," Lavrov said after a meeting with his European Union counterparts. "We need a stable resolution," he said. "We shouldn't plant a delayed action land mine under the Kosovo process," the Russian foreign minister told reporters. Washington strongly supports the plan, which must be approved by the U.N. Security Council. But Serbia and Russia have rejected the proposal, saying it runs counter to the U.N. Charter because it would dismember a sovereign state. The European Union has tried to bridge the gap, although its own 27 member states are themselves divided on the issue. The fate of Kosovo is shaping up as one of the thorniest issues in the increasingly difficult relationship between the West and a resurgent Russia. Russia, which holds a veto in the Security Council, has been increasingly vociferous in its opposition to the proposal. Moscow insists that it will not condone any deal not endorsed by Serbia -- whose government vows never to accept Kosovo's independence. The meeting in Luxembourg came ahead of a crucial fact-finding visit to Kosovo by all 15 Security Council ambassadors. Their findings could set the tone for the coming debate on Kosovo and a possible vote in May or June on the U.N. plan which advocates internationally supervised independence. The impasse is the latest irritant in relations between the West and Russia, which is reasserting itself on the international stage largely through its influence as an energy giant. They have also clashed over U.S. plans to station elements of an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic and Russia's support for breakaway regions in Georgia and Moldova. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/world/BO50096/
