G8 deadlocked on compromise over Kosovo's future

HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 8 (Reuters) Major powers at a G8 summit were deadlocked today on a compromise on the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo with Russia resisting the terms of a French plan to delay a UN vote on its independence.

''For the time being, the necessary progress has not been made,'' French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters after talks with US President George W. Bush on the last day of the June 6-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.

Russia is opposing Western efforts to adopt a UN resolution that would clear the way for independence and Sarkozy yesterday suggested a six-month delay in any vote to find more time for a deal.

Sarkozy said that Russia, in overnight talks among G8 leaders' advisers, had not agreed to the proposal of a delay in return for recognising ''the unavoidable prospect'' of independence for Kosovo.

Asked if there was still a threat of a Russian veto over Kosovo's independence, he said: ''I think one could say it like that.'' Russia has traditionally been a strong ally of Serbia, whose government refuses to brook independence for Kosovo. The United States and the European Union believe Kosovo's independence is an inevitability that Russia and Serbia will have to accept.

NATO forces intervened in Kosovo eight years ago to halt the killing and expulsion of Albanians by Serb forces and ethnic Albanian leaders are pushing the West to back a unilateral declaration of independence if Russia vetoes the UN resolution.

Sarkozy said yesterday that, under his proposal, Serbia and Kosovo would be pressured into negotiating a ''better status'' than that currently proposed, giving the two sides six months to reach agreement.

UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari's plan sets out the framework of a Kosovo state.

Ten thousand Albanians died in Serbia's 1998-99 counter-insurgency war before the United Nations took control. The West sees no prospect of forcing 2 million Albanians - 90 per cent of the population -- back into the arms of Belgrade.

The United States had forecast a UN vote this week, but has apparently retreated in the face of the threatened veto.

REUTERS KK ND1416