UN debate over Kosovo draft vote

UN debate over Kosovo draft vote

"In our discussion tomorrow, we'll see whether Russia will prevent the Security Council from being relevant," he said Wednesday.

The United States and the EU have formally introduced a draft UN resolution late Tuesday but have not decided whether to call a vote.

Moscow, which has veto power in the UN Security Council, has rejected any action that would lead to Kosovo's independence from Serbia, and has said the resolution had "zero" chance of being adopted.

The introduction of the draft means a vote can be called after 24 hours but does not have to be. Sponsors of the text said no vote had been scheduled, indicating they would await Moscow's reaction and then decide whether to take action elsewhere, Reuters reported.

The draft resolution would hand over administration of Kosovo from the UN to the EU after 120 days, which means the EU would be the key decision-maker in the province. It affirms the council's "readiness to review the situation further" in light of the Albanian-Serb negotiations, but does not require further Security Council action, which Russia wanted.

"If Russia prevents the council from dealing with this issue ... the process will not stop there. The process then will move outside the council. That would not be positive in our judgment," Khalilzad said.

Asked Thursday whether there was anything in the new text that would make it more acceptable, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin replied "No."

However, he rejected to say whether his country intended to use a veto if the latest Kosovo draft was put up for a vote.

Chinese Ambassador in the UN Wang Yingfan could not say directly about the timing of the vote, adding that "there are divisions in the Council and that the issue of the vote was in hands of those responsible for the draft."

Following the U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns’s statement given Wednesday that Kosovo would be independent by the end of 2007, which would be decided on either by the UN Security Council or through other mechanisms, Russian State Duma President Boris Gryzlov stressed that it was up to the Security Council to decide on Kosovo.

“If the draft resolution was put up for a vote at the UN, and Serbia did not approve of the draft, Russia would not approve of it either. We would exercise our right and use a veto,” Gryzlov said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday, after a meeting with his British counterpart David Milliband, that attempts to come to a new UN resolution on Kosovo were halted, and suggested a new round of negotiations between Belgrade and Priština.

He said that in the absence of a resolution, it was considered whether to make further moves that would “clarify the future status of Kosovo.”

According to him, consideration pertained to calling on Belgrade and Priština to engage in talks without a UN resolution to mandate new negotiations.

Lavrov confirms Russian stance

“Russia has not changed is position on the future of Serbia's province of Kosovo,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday night in a conversation with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.

Sources at the Foreign Ministry told Itar-Tass that the two ministers had the telephone conversation in the light of submission of a new draft resolution on Kosovo to the UN Security Council.

"The Russian minister reaffirmed the basics of Russia’s position on Kosovo," a source said.

The conversation was held at a French request.

Rice: U.S. committed to Kosovo independence

Kosovo will get its independence from Serbia "one way or another" despite Russia's objections at the United Nations, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.

Rice told reporters traveling with her to Lisbon for a meeting of the quartet of Middle East mediators that U.S. President George Bush had made it very clear that Kosovo should have its independence from Serbia.

"The United States is absolutely committed to that," said Rice, who will see Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Lisbon at the meeting of the quartet, which comprises the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

Asked whether the United States was prepared to move on Kosovo's path to independence outside of the United Nations, Rice said that "the U.S. was  committed to an independent Kosovo and would get there one way or another."

Rice is set to discuss Kosovo, among other issues, when she meets the foreign minister of Portugal, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, during her one-day trip to Lisbon.