BRUSSELS, Nov 19: European Union ministers on Monday warned Kosovo against any unilateral declaration of independence following weekend elections in the Serbian province, as Russia stressed such a move could destabilise the Balkans.

The European Union wants Hashim Thaci, the former guerilla leader who looks set to lead the government that emerges from Saturday’s polls, to avoid any rash moves that could provoke Serbia and its ally, Russia.

Noting a Dec 10 deadline for ending negotiations on the future status of the ethnic Albanian-majority province, EU foreign ministers called on Thaci to let the talks run their course, and do nothing to jeopardise international support.

“Kosovo should have her independence (but) it shouldn’t be an unmanaged unilateral declaration,” said Britain’s European affairs minister Jim Murphy.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said: “We need on this issue a soft landing rather than a big bang. The Balkans is a rather fragile place.”

Preliminary election results indicated that Hashim Thaci’s Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) had secured 34 per cent of the vote, well ahead of his nearest rival.

“The citizens of Kosovo sent the world a message,” a triumphant Thaci said after claiming victory. “The strongest message was that Kosovo is ready (for) independence”.

Serbia considers Kosovo an integral part of its territory and history, and is only willing to give it wider autonomy.

Belgrade’s ally Russia is blocking the UN Security Council from granting “supervised independence”.

A negotiating troika of the EU, Russia and United States meets in Brussels on Tuesday and a final round of talks is likely to start in Vienna on Nov 26, but officials concede privately that a resolution is highly unlikely.

“After 100 days we have explored almost every humanly-known option for a squaring off of the circle of the status question,” EU troika envoy Wolfgang Ischinger said before meeting the ministers.

“We have dug really deep,” he said. “I say this because one might be tempted to say: ‘let’s have another round’.”

Indeed Russia has already done just that.

Last Tuesday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for the parties to be given more time to reach an agreement.—AFP