UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Russia warned Kosovo's leaders Wednesday that if they declare independence the territory will never become a member of the United Nations or other international political institutions.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that the future of Kosovo is a Security Council issue - not an EU issue - and said council members should prepare a roadmap that would "create dynamics that in our view would lead to a negotiated outcome."
He made clear that Russia, which has veto power in the Security Council, would block any attempt by an independent Kosovo to become a member of the United Nations.
The United States and Britain countered by reaffirming their support for Kosovo's drive for independence from Serbia, a close ally of Russia.
The council was supposed to discuss a report on the U.N. Mission in Kosovo, but instead the two sides replayed their debate last month on independence vs. autonomy for the Serb province, and neither side budged.
With Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders expected to declare independence in late February or early March, the stakes were high and the key players sent top leaders to make their case again to the U.N.'s most powerful body - Serbian President Boris Tadic and Kosovo's newly elected Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.
