Russia dismisses new Kosovo resolution

MOSCOW, July 12 (Reuters) Russia dismissed today the latest United Nations draft resolution on the future of the province of Kosovo, saying it amounted to the same old Western-backed plan for independence dressed up in new language.

''The problem of a decision on the independence of Kosovo has not been taken off the agenda,'' Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

''Behind diplomatic rhetoric, there is the conclusion that after the talks ... the Ahtisaari plan comes into effect,'' he added.

Europeans and the United States are drafting a UN resolution that would order 120 days of negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians but no longer automatically call for independence.

The document would be the third attempt to get agreement from Russia, which has veto power in the 15-nation UN Security Council. Moscow has said that Kosovo, a Serbian province, could not be severed without Belgrade's consent.

REUTERS AM RK2320