Serbian Leaders Reject Kosovo Independence

Serbian President Boris Tadic said Friday his country will never accept the independence of the mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province.

Tadic told Martti Ahtisaari, U.N. special envoy to Kosovo, that imposed independence for Kosovo would be in violation of international law and an exceptionally dangerous political and legal precedent, Belgrade’s B92 radio said.

Ahtisaari was in Belgrade to deliver to Tadic a plan that may lead Kosovo towards independence from Serbia.

Tadic said Ahtisaari’s plan does not refer directly to Kosovo’s independence, but it also does not refer to Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who refused to receive Ahtisaari, said the U.N. envoy’s plan was illegitimate and violates the U.N. charter and the principles of international law on which peace and stability in the world are based.