LONDON, December 7 (RIA Novosti) - A group of international mediators in talks on Kosovo have submitted to the UN Security Council a report saying that the parties have failed to reach an agreement, an EU diplomatic source said.
The Contact Group troika of mediators - Russia, the United States and the European Union - concluded months of talks last week.
He said no agreement was in sight either between Belgrade and Pristina or within the troika itself, adding that Russia stood firm on its view that independence could only be granted to Kosovo if Pristina and Belgrade agreed.
Russia will call on the UN Security Council to continue talks on the status of Serbia's predominantly-Albanian province under the troika's auspices, the Russian envoy said on Friday.
"Russia is for the continuation of talks. It is really surprising how the troika has managed to achieve such impressive results in such a short time," Vitaly Churkin said.
EU representative Wolfgang Ischinger told a news conference on Monday that the report would state that Belgrade and Pristina had failed to reach a compromise and would list the proposals made by both the Serbian and Kosovo delegations.
The EU is also split over the issue, and the Slovak government said on Friday it would not recognize Kosovo's independence should Pristina proclaim independence.
"We will not support Kosovo's independence if Kosovo unilaterally declares independence without approval by the UN or other important international organizations," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said.
Russia's foreign minister said on Friday a decision on Kosovo would set a precedent for the unrecognized post-Soviet republics.
"A precedent will be created simply because one will have come about," Sergei Lavrov said, responding to a question about the effect Kosovo's independence might have on the resolution of conflicts in Georgia and its breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, a top EU official said on Thursday that she hoped that if Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, Russia would not respond by recognizing the independence of self-proclaimed territories in the former Soviet Union.
During the latest round of negotiations held in Austria last week, Serbia reiterated offers for the province's broad autonomy, while Kosovo, a UN protectorate since 1999, continued to insist on full independence.
Kosovo has threatened to unilaterally declare independence in January if no agreement is reached with Serbia.
Parliamentary elections in Kosovo on November 17 were won by former rebel leader Hashim Thaci, who has vowed to declare independence for Kosovo. The province's ethnic Serb population (around 6%) boycotted the election.
Aleksandar Simic, an adviser to the Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, said on Friday that Serbia had the right to use military force to defend its interests in Kosovo: "The State has no recourse other than war when someone does not respect the UN Security Council," he told Serbian state television.
A NATO bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a bloody war between Serb forces and Albanian separatists in 1999.
