Russia warned Kosovo's leaders that if they declare independence the territory will never become a member of the UN or other international political institutions.
The US and Britain countered on Wednesday by reaffirming their support for Kosovo's drive for independence from Serbia, a close ally of Russia.
The future status of Kosovo, a province of Serbia that has been run by the UN and NATO since 1999, was not on the Security Council's official agenda on Wednesday. The council was supposed to discuss a report on the UN Mission in Kosovo, but instead the two sides replayed their debate last month on independence versus autonomy for the Serb province and neither side budged.
With Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders expected to declare independence as early as next month, the stakes were high and the key players sent their top leaders -- Serbian President Boris Tadic and Kosovo's newly elected Prime Minister Hashim Thaci -- to make their case again to the UN's most powerful body.
Tadic echoed Russia's call for further negotiations, saying a solution that would both provide autonomy and guarantee rights for Kosovo Albanians was "possible and attainable."
He said Serbia had become a peaceful democracy and there was no reason it should be "unjustly punished again" because of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists a decade ago.
But Thaci told the council that Kosovo has laid the foundations to be a democratic state and independence is a "first step to regional success and our integration in the European family," according to a copy of his speech.
Later, he told reporters: "Very soon we will take a decision and we hope that very soon [the] international community will recognize us -- Washington, Britain and other states."
After the Dec. 19 Security Council debate, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad declared the views of the two sides "irreconcilable," and said it was time for an independent Kosovo, a stand backed by Britain, France and most members of the EU.
On Wednesday, Khalilzad told reporters: "We know where we are heading. There is no change with regard to the fact that the council is blocked."
Britain's UN Ambassador John Sawers agreed that "nothing's changed."
"I don't think there's any prospect of further negotiations, so we need to plan ahead and the European Union's made clear its approach," he said. "There will be a further discussion among EU foreign ministers on Saturday."
But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the future of Kosovo was a Security Council issue and not an issue concerning EU leaders.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not