UN Security Council fails to agree on Kosovo

Western states resisted a Russian bid to have the U.N. Security Council block Kosovo's independence declaration on Sunday and said the European Union and NATO would take responsibility for the region's stability.

An emergency council meeting called by Russia failed to bridge differences between Serbia's ally Moscow, which says the declaration is illegal, and Western states that maintain it is the only viable option after talks failed.

A statement issued after the meeting by seven Western nations left little doubt that they would be recognizing majority ethnic-Albanian Kosovo but stopped short of saying so outright. A lead is expected from the EU, whose foreign ministers will meet on Monday.

"We regret that the Security Council cannot agree on the way forward, but this impasse has been clear for many months," Belgian Ambassador Johan Verbeke said.

"Today's events ... represent the conclusion of a status process that has exhausted all avenues in pursuit of a negotiated outcome," he said in a statement agreed by Belgium, France, Italy, Britain, Croatia, Germany and the United States. It was also backed by current EU president Slovenia.

"We are determined to take up our own responsibilities, as states and through the EU and NATO, to secure stability and security in the region," the statement said. The EU will be taking over police and justice functions from U.N. staff, though a U.N. mission will remain in Kosovo.

The Western statement said the status quo in Kosovo, run by the U.N. since NATO bombing drove out Serb forces nine years ago, "had become unsustainable."

It said a 1999 U.N. resolution provided the framework for transition to "a sustainable new status" for Kosovo -- a position contested by Russia, which says the resolution requires the U.N. to nullify any independence declaration.

No legal basis

"It is not obvious at all what could possibly be the legal basis for even considering the recognition of this unilateral declaration of independence," Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters.

"Our position is that this declaration should be disregarded by the international community and should be declared null and void by the head of UNMIK" -- the U.N. mission in Kosovo.

In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry had earlier warned the United Nations that Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia could cause an escalation in ethnic violence.

But British Ambassador John Sawers said after the council session: "No country supported the proposal from Russia that the declaration be declared null and void. Everybody recognized that the situation had indeed moved on."

Despite the deadlock at Sunday's closed session, Russia and Serbia have requested a second, open council meeting on Monday with Serbian President Boris Tadic present. Western envoys said they would not oppose that meeting.

Earlier on Sunday, the speaker of the Kosovo parliament announced that Kosovo was now "an independent, sovereign and democratic state."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who attended Sunday's council meeting, urged Serbs and Albanians to refrain from violence or any statement that could jeopardize peace.