Kosovo formally made its pitch for independence during talks with Serbia today.
The one-day meeting in Vienna placed the Albanian majority's demand for independence on the agenda of a UN-led mediation process that began in February, seven years since the West intervened to halt a wave of ethnic cleansing and the United Nations took control.
UN mediators conceded the two sides remained "far apart".
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian President Fatmir Sejdiu said independence was "the beginning and end of our position." "The will for independence cannot be ignored or negotiated away."
Serb leaders again offered "substantial autonomy".
It was the first time the presidents and prime ministers of both sides had held direct talks since Serbia's 1998-99 war with ethnic Albanian guerrillas. Some 10,000 Albanian civilians died and 800,000 fled, marking the culmination of a decade of Serb repression under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
Seven turbulent years later, the West says Kosovo's economic and political limbo is unsustainable. It wants a settlement within the year, which diplomats say will likely bring some form of independence with or without Serbian consent.
"Belgrade would agree to anything but independence," UN chief mediator Martti Ahtisaari told a news conference after the meeting. "Pristina would accept nothing but independence."