"There are two documents on the table," Vitaly Churkin said, referring to the Russian plan and the other composed by the U.S., France, U.K., and Germany.
"They are antithetic on two key counts," he added as the UN Security Council is considering the results of a fact-finding mission sent to Kosovo on Russia's initiative. He said Russia objected to full independence for Kosovo and insistence that Kosovo does not set international precedent.
"We think it will in any case be perceived as precedent by separatist-minded political groups," the Russian representative said.
Russia insists that the negotiations between the Serbs and the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo should go on, and that ethnic minorities in the region should get fair security.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalizad said that the Kosovo issue should be resolved without delay because otherwise the UN would see growing instability and depression in the region. He admitted the Ahtisaari plan was not ideal but praised it for paving the way to Serbia and Kosovo's European integration and for defining the European Union as the sole entity responsible for security there.
Even though Churkin said some propositions of the western-backed plan should be fulfilled as soon as possible, he said the plan as such cannot be used as a platform for real settlement.
Although all sides have diplomatically avoided using the actual term "veto," which Russia, as a permanent Security Council member, can use to block any plan, Churkin has said that "our stand is very firm, and I have sought to make it very clear."
Kosovo has been torn by ethnic tensions since 1999 when NATO troops moved in to stop what had been seen as ethnic cleansing of the predominantly Muslim Albanian population of the region by Serbs. While the Albanians has demanded full independence ever since, the sizeable Orthodox Serb minority has complained their lives and sacred places would be in danger under a structure that they said has yet shown little readiness for statehood.
Russia has repeatedly made clear it would support only a deal respecting the view of both sides.
