RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 15 2008

EU likely to put off Kosovo mission until February
17:23 | 15/ 01/ 2008

BRUSSELS, January 15 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union is likely to
wait until February to launch a police and justice mission in Kosovo,
so as not to influence elections in Serbia, media in Brussels
reported on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the government of Slovenia, which holds the EU’s
rotating presidency, was quoted as saying there is a high probability
that the decision will not be made until February, since an earlier
move could interfere with the situation in the region.

The United Nations Security Council is to meet Wednesday to review
the work of the UN’s interim mission in Kosovo, which has been
engaged in training the local police force, along with other
administrative tasks.

According to Kosovo’s newly elected prime minister, Hasim Taci, the
breakaway province of Serbia will unilaterally declare its
independence in a few weeks.

"I assure you that we will declare our independence in a few weeks.
It’s already an accomplished fact – we only need to declare it," said
Taci, who was sworn in by parliament last Wednesday.

Taci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) has formed a governing
coalition with President Fatmir Seidiu’s Democratic Alliance of
Kosovo.

Russia has warned that it will block any resolution on Kosovo’s
status at the UN Security Council until both parties have found a
mutually acceptable settlement.

Throughout long-running talks aimed at finding a solution to the
status of Serbia’s breakaway province, Russia has backed Belgrade in
opposing Kosovo’s sovereignty, warning it would have a knock on
effect for other secessionist areas, such as Transdnestr in Moldova,
South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia and Nagorny Karabakh in
Azerbaijan, so-called frozen conflicts since the 1990s.

The Albanian-dominated Serbian province has been a UN protectorate
since the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict
between Albanian and Serb forces in 1999.

Most Western states have backed the volatile area’s drive for
independence, and said recently that Kosovo’s status would now be
determined by the European Union and NATO. Russia is insisting that
Belgrade and Pristina continue to try to reach a compromise.