Kosovo vows to move to independence by year-end

VIENNA (Reuters) - Kosovo sees no way forward in talks with Serbia and will move towards independence by the end of the year, the prime minister of the breakaway province said after another inconclusive round of negotiations in Vienna.

Mediators from the United States, Russia and the European Union have until December 10 to try to bridge the chasm between Serbia's offer of autonomy for Kosovo and the 90-percent Albanian majority's demand for independence.

"We are really looking for a way forward, but after this meeting we must conclude that we haven't found it," Agim Ceku told Austrian daily Der Standard for its Tuesday edition.

"All Serbia is talking about is the past," he said.

On the table are 14 principles of common ground drafted by the envoys to "open a path to a solution" before they report back to the United Nations.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Monday that the proposals "as they were first presented, mean practically a relationship between two independent states".

"That, for Serbia, is completely unacceptable," he told a news conference.

Serbia instead proposed Hong Kong as a possible model to resolve the question of Kosovo's status, an idea the Kosovo Albanian delegation dismissed as "totally inappropriate".

Kostunica's spokesman said later that Belgrade was prepared to continue discussing the 14 points. The next meeting is due on November 20 in Brussels.