Serbian President Boris Tadic meets Wednesday with U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley to explain to the Bush administration why Serbia opposes independence for Kosovo.
Before leaving for Washington Tuesday, Mr. Tadic told reporters in Belgrade that he will tell U.S. officials that granting the Serbian province independence would threaten the security and stability of the entire Balkans.
He called the current Kosovo situation the result of the Serbian government's disastrous policies in the 1990s.
Mr. Tadic is scheduled to meet with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later in the week.
United Nations-mediated talks between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian representatives on the future of the province have achieved no major progress.
Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians seek independence. Serbia insists on maintaining control over the province.
Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999, when NATO airstrikes drove Serbian and Yugoslav security forces from the province.