Russia spurns West's concessions on Kosovo future

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Western nations softened a draft resolution to back U.N. plans for a future Kosovo state, but Russia dismissed the move on Thursday and renewed its threat of a veto, absent radical changes.

Western diplomats, speaking after Britain formally introduced the text in the Security Council, suggested the Russians were posturing and said they would like to schedule a vote next week, but did not rule out it could take longer.

The draft is a revised version of one circulated earlier this month that would allow Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians to declare independence eight years after NATO wrested control of the territory from Serbia.

In one change, the Security Council would not "endorse" U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari's blueprint for qualified independence for Kosovo, but only "support" it.

The latest draft also proposes a special U.N. envoy to deal with the return of thousands of Serb refugees, another concern of Russia. Moscow is a long-standing ally of Serbia, which fiercely opposes Kosovan independence.

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, scoffed at the amendments as far short of what Moscow was seeking, saying they had "not changed anything as far as we are concerned."

Repeating Moscow's call for more talks between Serbs and Albanians -- dismissed as futile by the West -- Churkin again hinted at a veto of the resolution in its current form.

"I don't like this word (veto) till I receive final instructions, but you are guessing well what is in my mind," he said in answer to a reporter's question.