France: No Kosovo deal with Russia

France: No Kosovo deal with Russia

"It seems that the Russians are not willing to sign it (the draft resolution)," said Kouchner.

"Under these conditions there will be no agreement on a resolution and under these conditions there will, no doubt, be no resolution."

The fifth U.S.-EU sponsored draft resolution on Kosovo's future status was formally submitted to the UN last night.

However, there was no decision on whether the document will be put up for a vote.

Russia, one of the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, earlier rejected the latest draft designed to replace the valid UN resolution 1244 and determine the direction of the Kosovo settlement process.

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the draft had “zero” percent chance of being adopted.

The presentation of the document that took place late last night Central European time, envisages a non-binding provision to put the proposal up for a vote within 24 hours.

The countries that submitted the document said the voting had not yet been scheduled, which Reuters interpreted as their desire to wait for Moscow’s reaction.

The draft calls on Belgrade and Priština to continue negotiations on the future status of Kosovo for 120 days, after which the EU would take over the administration of the province from the UN, while NATO troops would remain deployed.

On Tuesday, reports from Brussels suggested that the Contact Group will most likely organize negotiations between Belgrade and Priština if there is no UN resolution.

“We are calling for negotiations to take place, but not without a time limit. I think that we do not have a lot of time to try and pass a resolution," EU Security and Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said.  

"If that is not possible, we will probably move ahead, open talks between the two sides even without a resolution and in the end see how the situation unfolds in those 120 days or so.”

In the meantime, there is still criticisms coming from New York after Moscow’s refusal to approve the latest resolution draft.

UK’s deputy ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce criticized Russia and said that the proposed resolution for the status of Kosovo will soon be voted on in the UN Security Council.

“We will receive instructions from various capitals to see in through what measures and in what rhythm we should work, but now there is a tendency for the draft to be put to a vote as soon as possible, say in the next 36 hours,” Pierce said, adding that she was upset by the fact that “Russia looks as if it no longer wants to work through the Contact Group.”

After talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin Tuesday, Prime Minister Koštunica repeated his objection to an UN-backed plan for Kosovo and called for direct talks between Belgrade and Priština.

Merkel said after the meeting Germany believed the Ahtisaari blueprint remained the basis for a solution but did not want to see a divisive UN vote on the issue and was therefore prepared to entertain the idea of fresh talks between Belgrade and the ethnic Kosovo Albanian leadership.

In addition to Kosovo, Merkel and Koštunica also discussed bilateral relations and the Stabilization and Security Agreement that Serbia hopes to have in place with the European Union in October as a prelude towards full EU membership