Russia proposes new UN Kosovo talks, fears crisis

By Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia called for the creation of a new "road map" for Kosovo on Monday, warning that the future of the breakaway Serbian province risked sparking an "uncontrollable crisis".

Russia, which backs Serbian objections to Kosovo's independence, said that 120 days of talks with the United States, the European Union and Russia made progress and the process should continue.

"In the interests of stimulating the negotiation process as well as resolving other crisis situations, we suggest the development of a 'road map', the framework could take account of the reasonable interests of the sides," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.

Russia said it was willing to discus the format, but added that other nations wanted to break international law by backing a declaration of independence for the province, which has a 90 percent Albanian majority.

"There are behind the scenes maneuvers around the leaders of the U.N. which are aimed at making them legitimize the next illegal steps. We are certain that no one will give in to blackmail. This is the U.N. reputation which is at stake."

"The situation is fraught and risks sliding towards an uncontrollable crisis, if it not settled in line with international law," it added.

In another sign of Russia's resistance, its representative at the Kosovo talks, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, said the latest EU plans to send a mission of 1,800 police officers and lawyers to Kosovo would be illegal without a fresh U.N. resolution, Interfax reported.

Russia was setting out its position ahead of a U.N. Security Council debate on Kosovo on Wednesday.

The Security Council will discuss the report by the "troika" of mediators who said on December 7 that the four months of talks had failed to reach a deal with no compromise on either side.

EU leaders said last Friday that talks on Kosovo's future were exhausted, the status quo was untenable and there was a need to move toward a Kosovo settlement. They stopped short of endorsing independence.

However, there are differences within the EU on Kosovo. Diplomats said EU members Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia and Romania all object to recognizing Kosovo's sovereignty without a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country takes over the rotating EU presidency next month, said he was well placed to act as a broker in the dispute. Slovenia was once part of Yugoslavia and retains strong business links to Serbia.

"We are not one sided in this case. Slovenia has excellent cooperation with Serbia, also Kosovo, with all former Yugoslav republics," Jansa said.

"I'm slightly optimistic...that before the summer next year we can see the region of Western Balkans (becoming) more stable".

(Additional reporting by Marja Novak in Brussels; editing by Keith Weir)