Serbia:Serb leaders met yesterday to discuss retaliatory measures against Kosovo after its expected declaration of independence this weekend, as Russia launched a scathing attack on the United States and European Union for encouraging the move.
"We will not let such a creation exist, even for a moment," said prime minister Vojislav Kostunica before a meeting of Serbia's National Security Council, which was due to finalise a secret plan on how Belgrade would respond to Kosovo's bid for sovereignty.
Mr Kostunica said Serbia would "annul all illegal acts in relation to a unilateral proclamation of this fake state on Serbia's soil".
"It has to be legally annulled the same moment that it is illegally proclaimed by convicted terrorists," he said, referring to Kosovo's prime minister Hashim Thaci, who was convicted by a Serb court for alleged terrorist acts when he was a separatist rebel leader.
After Nato bombing ended Serbia's brutal 1998-9 crackdown on the rebels, Mr Thaci moved into politics, and he is expected to declare independence this weekend, to the delight of Kosovo's 90 per cent ethnic-Albanian majority and the fury of Belgrade and Moscow.
Nationalist Mr Kostunica and the more liberal Serb president Boris Tadic have agreed to put aside their differences over Serbia's relations with the EU to concentrate on a reaction to Kosovo's independence and its impact on Serbs living in enclaves dotted around the region.
Belgrade's "action plan" is believed to make provision for an economic and travel blockade of Kosovo, and perhaps for the suspension of electricity supplies to the province. It may also recommend a downgrading of diplomatic ties with countries that immediately recognise its declaration of sovereignty, including major EU members and the United States.
Serbia has staunch backing from Moscow over Kosovo, and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov lambasted the West for preparing to recognise its unilateral proclamation of independence, which has not been approved by the United Nations.
"It would undermine the basics of security in Europe; it would undermine the basics of the United Nations charter," Mr Lavrov said, accusing western states of approaching the issue in a "haphazard" way.
"Many of them, frankly, do not understand the risks and dangers and threats associated with a unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence," he said.
"They do not understand that it would inevitably result in a chain reaction in many parts of the world, including Europe and elsewhere."
