(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-19 00:08

MOSCOW - Russia is to demand the UN mission in Kosovo to annul the declaration of the province's independence, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying on Monday.

"We are attentively watching the developments in Kosovo," said Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, the deputy director of the Foreign Ministry's third European department in charge of Balkan countries.

"So far they have been proving the correctness of our forecasts and the situation there remains explosive," Itar-Tass cited him as saying.

The diplomat said that Russia is waiting for a meeting of the UN Security Council, whose Resolution 1244 remains in effect despite the fact that Kosovo has violated it.

"We will try to reverse the situation in the resolution channel," he said, adding Russia supports Belgrade's demand to restore the country's territorial integrity.

Kosovo has been run by the UN mission since 1999, after NATO launched airstrikes to drive out Serbian forces from the province.

Kosovo's parliament officially declared independence from Serbia on Sunday with support from the United States and some EU countries, sparking mixed responses from the international community.

Russia, which fears the province's independence sets a precedent for secessionist groups worldwide, condemned Kosovo's proclamation, and demanded an urgent UN Security Council meeting on the issue.

Serbia, which sees the province as its cultural heartland, said it will never recognize the independence of Kosovo, and will seek legal and diplomatic means to annul the declaration.