An ethnic Albanian leader in Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province has called on Western powers to curb Russia's influence in European affairs, including the future status of Kosovo.
The ader of the group Reformist Party Hour, Veton Surroi, told the Associated Press Saturday that Russia should not have veto power over historic processes in Europe. On Friday, Surroi called on Kosovo's leadership to acknowledge that the current strategy to obtain independence through the United Nations Security Council has failed.
Surroi is a member of Kosovo's team negotiating the province's future with Serbia.
He also said that partitioning the province along ethnic lines would be the worst option, leading to regional instability.
The United States and its European allies on Friday circulated their latest Kosovo draft resolution in the Security Council.
The Council is expected to begin discussions on the final text of the draft resolution Monday.
It calls for four more months of negotiations between ethnic Albanians and Serbs on the future of the disputed province. But the sponsors dropped an earlier promise of supervised independence if talks fail.
Serbia is against any move that could lead to Kosovo's independence. Russia has repeatedly said it will veto any plan not backed by both sides. It has not rejected the latest U.N. draft resolution, but has expressed objections to the text.
Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999, after NATO airstrikes halted Belgrade's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
