MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Belgrade and Pristina plan to hold another round of negotiations on the status of Kosovo late next week, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.
"[The talks] are likely to take place next week," the source said, adding that the issue would be settled as soon as Belgrade and Pristina confirm their readiness to host the Kosovo Contact Group's troika and hold the talks.
Established July 25 to mediate during new Kosovo talks between Belgrade and Pristina, the troika comprises Russia, the European Union and the United States as part of the Contact Group for Kosovo, which also involves France, Italy and Germany.
The negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo Albanians will be held as part of shuttle diplomacy, with troika representatives traveling between Belgrade and Pristina in an attempt to bring the parties' positions on the status of the predominantly ethnic-Albanian province closer together.
Determining the status of the province has been on the international agenda since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a conflict between Serb forces and Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999. The region has remained a UN protectorate ever since.
Moscow has repeatedly said a solution must be based on a compromise between Belgrade and Pristina, and that the position of ethnic minorities in the region must also be considered.
