Russia gave a definitive "no" on Monday to a European-American draft resolution on Kosovo that would end a UN presence and put European representatives in charge of the Serbian province.
The Russian response to the revised UN Security Council draft leaves the West in a quandary on whether to call a vote that Moscow would veto or to move ahead on a route toward independence for Kosovo outside of the 15-member council.
Moscow's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said the text was a stealth move toward independence, despite its call for 120 days of further talks between Belgrade and Pristina.
He said the resolution's chances of adoption are "zero."
"Almost the entire text and maybe particularly the annexes are permeated with the concept of the independence of Kosovo," Churkin said.
Kosovo, with a population of 2 million that is 90 percent Albanian and 10 percent Serbian, has been administered by the UN since 1999, when NATO bombs forced out Serb troops that were killing and expelling Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas.
Substituting European representatives for the UN in Kosovo would reduce the influence of the Security Council, and by extension Russia, an ally of the Serbia.
Russia opposes any action that would allow Kosovo to declare independence from Serbia, an ally of Moscow, and has hinted strongly that it will use its veto if such a measure comes up for a vote. It has also refused to join the normal council process of negotiating changes.
France's UN ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, speaking on behalf of the sponsors, told reporters it was difficult to guess what to do after four months of negotiations should the resolution be adopted.
He said the sponsors would consult with their capitals.
If Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement, the council could adopt a resolution endorsing it. If they did not, members would have to review what to do next. "We cannot say today. We do not know," de la Sabliere said.
In the meantime, he said, those who had influence on either party "had to push" for a solution.
But Churkin said a review was not good enough and the council would have to make a decision at the end of any negotiating period, not just discuss the issue.
CONCERN
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern that Kosovo's leaders would declare unilateral independence from Serbia even if this deprived them of European aid.
"I would hope that Kosovo will not take any unilateral action," Ban told a news conference. "This is what exactly I've been stressing publicly and privately to the leadership of Kosovo."
"Any further delay or prolongation in this issue is not desirable, not only for Balkan states, but also for all European countries," Ban said.
Earlier drafts also called for 120 days of renewed talks but had included part of a plan by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari which included an automatic trigger leading to Kosovo's independence, which Ban supports.
The new and third draft drops the trigger but puts in place the European framework proposed by Ahtisaari. But it no longer calls for Kosovo's membership in international bodies.
On Friday, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad threatened to move forward on Kosovo, which is clamoring for independence from Serbia, outside the Security Council whether Russia agreed to the resolution or not.
Khalilzad said if Russia continued to object, "this will not stop the situation from moving forward, but it will be outside the Security Council framework, which is not what we want."
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