Russia opposes U.N. plan on Kosovo future

UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (UPI) -- Russia is opposing a U.N. plan on the future status of Serbia's mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province and is seeking a continuation of Serb-Albanian talks.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin, addressing a closed session of the U.N. Security Council Monday, criticized Joachim Ruecker, chief of the U.N. civilian mission in Kosovo, for delivering a one-sided report that was preaching for independence of Kosovo, The New York Times said.

Martti Ahtisaari, chief U.N. Kosovo envoy to the yearlong Serb-ethnic Albanian talks that ended without agreement March 10, has worked out a plan that grants internationally supervised independence to Kosovo.

Churkin said the United Nations should reject the Ahtisaari plan and pick another diplomat to keep Serb-ethnic Albanian talks going.

Leaders of ethnic-Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's population of 1.8 million, insist on independence from Serbia. The Serbian government in Belgrade, representing 100,000 Serbs living in Kosovo, says the province will always be an integral part of Serbia.

U.N. administrators and NATO troops have been deployed in Kosovo since 1999 to curb ethnic conflicts.