Russia wants more talks on Kosovo's status: Lavrov

Moscow, June 1 (UNI) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today said Moscow wanted more talks on Kosovo's status.

''The question how UN Security Council Resolution 1244 will be implemented is to be settled by Belgrade and Pristina,'' Mr Lavrov told reporters adding that Russia wanted to continue the talks.

Answering a question what was the position of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the issue, Mr Lavrov said it would be impolite to say anything on somebody else's behalf.

The official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Kamynin said Russia rejected a new version of the UN Security Council's draft resolution on Kosovo.

''We remain unsatisfied with the new version of the draft resolution on Kosovo,'' Mr Kamynin told Interfax news agency today.

Mr Kamynin also stressed Russia's position on ways to resolve the Kosovo issue remained unchanged.

''We want negotiations to continue and a solution to be found that would suit both sides -Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo,'' he said, adding, ''UN Security Council's Resolution 1244 is valid and needs to be implemented in full.'' Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin said yesterday Moscow would not back a new draft resolution on the status of Kosovo proposed by the United States and the European Union.

According to media reports, in a new version of the draft resolution, its authors, including several Western countries, propose only to support UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari's suggestions regarding a solution to the Kosovo problem.

Mr Ahtisaari's plan envisions granting Kosovo independence, to which Serbia was categorically opposed.

Russia also rejected his suggestions, dismissing them as an attempt to unilaterally impose a solution to the Kosovo problem on other parties.

UNI