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AUSTRIA - Serbs and Albanians remained totally opposed on the fate of Kosovo at last-gasp talks on Monday and Serbia, backed by ally Russia, began pushing to extend the negotiations beyond a deadline due in two weeks.
The Serbs complained Western promises to back a unilateral declaration of independence by the territory gave its Albanian majority no incentive to negotiate in good faith.
The two sides shared a cordial dinner but the Kosovo Albanians said they had heard "nothing new" from Serb leaders who refuse to give up sovereignty over the southern province.
Serbia's hardline prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, did not attend the dinner.
The talks in the spa town of Baden, due to end on Wednesday morning, are the last before a trio of mediators from the United States, Russia and the European Union reports back to the United Nations on December 10.
While admitting deadlock was certain, Russian envoy Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said Moscow would demand more talks.
"We will insist on the continuation of the status process through dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina," he told the Belgrade daily Blic.
Counting on Western support, Kosovo Albanians say they will declare independence from Serbia after the December deadline, probably in January or February.
Diplomats say recognition should follow quickly from the major Western powers who in 1999 unleashed Nato bombers to end a wave of ethnic cleansing by Serb forces trying to crush a guerrilla insurgency. Kosovo has been UN-administered since.
Asked if he saw any justification for an extension as suggested by Botsan-Kharchenko, EU envoy Wolfgang Ischinger said: "My answer is 'No'."
Kostunica, in opening remarks to the meeting, said that if compromise proved elusive, "we would have a duty to agree to resume the talks and establish a new negotiating process".
"No one should have any doubt that we will annul any unilateral act, and treat unilateral independence as a null, void and non-binding phenomenon," he said.
Serbia has instructed government ministers to draw up an 'Action Plan' in the event of a unilateral declaration, which analysts say could include roadblocks and obstruction of trade and electricity supplies.
Serbia repeated an offer of broad autonomy. Kostunica said it would "not let an inch of its territory be taken away".
The talks are the sixth round of a final search for a deal launched at the end of August after Russia's threat to veto a Western-backed plan granting Kosovo independence.
They follow 13 months of UN-led talks that ended in deadlock in March.
"This is the last meeting, after two years of talks," said ex-rebel fighter Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's likely next prime minister after winning last weekend's parliamentary election.
"We can negotiate for 100 years more with Serbia but for the independence of Kosovo we can have no compromise," he told Reuters at the 13th century Schloss Weikersdorf hotel.
- REUTERS
