U.S. introduced resolution on Kosovo independence to UN Security Council

PanARMENIAN.Net - EU nations and the U.S. circulated a UN resolution on Friday endorsing independence for Kosovo under international supervision.



The move came despite strong objections from Russia which wants new negotiations between the province's majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs.



The resolution's supporters said they want swift action on the resolution, which would end UN administration of the Serbian province in 120 days and hand over the supervised transition to the European Union.



NATO-led troops would remain to help ensure security and an international civilian representative would be appointed.



U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said on Thursday that supporters have enough votes in the Security Council to adopt the resolution unless Russia casts a veto.



Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin has circulated elements for a rival Security Council resolution calling for additional talks between officials in Serbia and Kosovo and stepped-up efforts to meet UN-endorsed standards, including protecting minorities and ensuring that Serbs who were forced to flee their homes can return to Kosovo.



Asked on Friday whether Russia would introduce its own resolution, Russia's deputy ambassador Konstantin Dolgov said the EU-U.S. text was being sent to Moscow and ''all possibilities are open.''



Kosovo is a province of Serbia, but it has been under UN and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.



Last month, UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari recommended that Kosovo be granted internationally-supervised independence - a proposal welcomed by its ethnic Albanian majority but vehemently rejected by its Serb minority, Serbia and Russia which has strong cultural and religious ties to the Serbs, the AP reports.