Russia warned Kosovo's leaders that if they declare independence the territory will never become a member of the UN or other international political institutions.
The US and Britain countered on Wednesday by reaffirming their support for Kosovo's drive for independence from Serbia, a close ally of Russia.
The future status of Kosovo, a province of Serbia that has been run by the UN and NATO since 1999, was not on the Security Council's official agenda on Wednesday. The council was supposed to discuss a report on the UN Mission in Kosovo, but instead the two sides replayed their debate last month on independence versus autonomy for the Serb province and neither side budged.
With Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders expected to declare independence as early as next month, the stakes were high and the key players sent their top leaders -- Serbian President Boris Tadic and Kosovo's newly elected Prime Minister Hashim Thaci -- to make their case again to the UN's most powerful body.
Tadic echoed Russia's call for further negotiations, saying a solution that would both provide autonomy and guarantee rights for Kosovo Albanians was "possible and attainable."
He said Serbia had become a peaceful democracy and there was no reason it should be "unjustly punished again" because of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists a decade ago.
But Thaci told the council that Kosovo has laid the foundations to be a democratic state and independence is a "first step to regional success and our integration in the European family," according to a copy of his speech.
Later, he told reporters: "Very soon we will take a decision and we hope that very soon [the] international community will recognize us -- Washington, Britain and other states."
After the Dec. 19 Security Council debate, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad declared the views of the two sides "irreconcilable," and said it was time for an independent Kosovo, a stand backed by Britain, France and most members of the EU.
On Wednesday, Khalilzad told reporters: "We know where we are heading. There is no change with regard to the fact that the council is blocked."
Britain's UN Ambassador John Sawers agreed that "nothing's changed."
"I don't think there's any prospect of further negotiations, so we need to plan ahead and the European Union's made clear its approach," he said. "There will be a further discussion among EU foreign ministers on Saturday."
But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the future of Kosovo was a Security Council issue and not an issue concerning EU leaders.
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