UN Security Council to debate Kosovo

The meeting, to be held behind closed doors, was scheduled on Belgrade's request with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic expected to request the Security Council not to recognize the sovereignty of the internationally-administrated province.

However, Kosovo Albanians seemed uninterested for the meeting, as Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said that the fate of Kosovo no longer lies in the hands of the UN, but rather of the European Union, which unilaterally decided to monitor the province's independence.

"We do not expect any decisions to be made at Thursday's session," a number of  Western and other diplomats told KosovoCompromise.com, explaining that the UN's most powerful body remains deeply divided.

"I cannot see any resolution or any outcome out of this meeting," Libya's UN Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi told reporters in New York.

Russia, Serbia's strongest supporter in Security Council, also seemed quite reserved over the prospects of the meeting, as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that "it wouldn't be correct not to use the Security Council machinery."

"We must all demonstrate maximum responsibility," Lavrov said.

Despite the fact that UN headquarters has been moved from the centre stage of Kosovo crisis, the beginning of the next week may result with several key statements and events, as Russian diplomats announced another special session of the Security Council, and the EU is still hoping for a green light from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to its 2,000-strong mission.

Both Russia and the EU have pressed the South Korean diplomat rather hard over the Kosovo issue, as Moscow expect the full respect for the key Security Council Resolution 1244 from June 1999, and the West is pushing the UN chief to "recognize the new reality" in province.

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