Serbia Says U.S. Wants Kosovo To Be 'Satellite State'

Serbia's government minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, said it is crucial that NATO and the United States give up what he called their project "of creating a satellite state" from the southern Serbian province.

His statement to local media is the latest in a series of Serbian accusations against the United States over its support for independence for Kosovo, where the ethnic-Albanian majority -- some 90 percent of the province's 2 million people -- is seeking independence from Serbia.

Kosovo leaders say they expect to achieve independence in 2007, and have threatened to declare independence unilaterally. EU, U.S., and Russian negotiators are due to recommend a new proposal for resolving Kosovo's status to the United Nations by December 10.

Meanwhile today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Kosovo of using the threat of chaos to blackmail Western states into granting the province independence.

In an article published in the online magazine "Russia In Global Affairs," Lavrov said Western countries "are inclined to give in to blackmail" and threats of "violence and anarchy."

(globalaffairs.ru, Reuters, AP)

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