Kosovo status solution must suit Belgrade : Putin

SOCHI, Russia, Jan 21 (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin today said his country will only back international proposals on the final status of Serbia's Kosovo province if it was unacceptable to both sides.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was having talks with Putin on Russia's Black Sea coast, said she hoped national elections in Serbia today would strengthen democratic forces in the Balkan country.

''We want that those proposals (on Kosovo's status) should suit both Belgrade and Pristina,'' Putin told a news conference.

''We think it is not in Europe's interests that one of the sides, let's say Belgrade, should be forced to accept a solution that would be demeaning for the Serbian people.'' Russia -- historically a close ally of Serbia -- is likely to play a key role in Kosovo's future because it could use its veto in the United Nations Security Council to block any proposal on the province's status.

Merkel said she did not want efforts to resolve the status of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians are in a majority, to destabilise the situation in Serbia.

''I hope that the democratic forces in Serbia are strengthened by the election,'' she said.

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