Disputed Independence

Ceku said there was strong international support for the move even though Kosovo's final status has yet to be agreed by the UN Security Council and Russia has threatened to veto a current plan.

"I expect Kosovo to be able to declare its independence by the end of May," Ceku told the New York Times.

"There is a very strong US commitment to do this," he said, adding that, "It wants to finish the job. Britain's (prime minister) Tony Blair is on board, too."

The European Union's German presidency was also likely to push for a quick resolution of Kosovo's status, Ceku said.

"With the G8 meeting due to take place in June, I don't think Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany will want G8 countries to attend the summit without resolving Kosovo's status."

Unilateral recognition?

Former US envoy to the Balkans and the UN, Richard Holbrooke, said at the weekend that Washington could unilaterally recognize Kosovo's independence even if Russia vetoes such a move at the United Nations.

"If Russia decides to use its veto (in the UN Security Council), there will be a declaration of independence in Kosovo and the United States will recognize Kosovo the same day," Richard Holbrooke predicted during a conference in Brussels, adding that he believed several EU states would follow suit.

The ethnic Albanian-dominated province in southern Serbia has been under UN administration since mid-1999, after NATO bombing helped drive out Serbian forces who were waging a brutal crackdown against Albanians.

Its future status is expected to be determined in coming weeks as the UN Security Council begins a debate on UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan to hand increasingly impatient ethnic Albanians their wish for statehood.

Fruitless talks

The Ahtisaari proposals, drafted after he led a year of mostly fruitless talks between Belgrade and Pristina, would grant Kosovo internationally supervised independence, including its own constitution, flag and anthem.

The proposals have the backing of the United States, the European Union, and leaders of ethnic Albanians, who comprise around 90 percent of Kosovo's two million inhabitants.

Serbia, however, which sees the province as its historic heartland and has won support from Russia, has rejected Ahtisaari's proposals as a violation of its territorial integrity.

"Russia is using Kosovo to prove it is a player," Ceku claimed in the New York Times interview, adding that he expected to achieve independence for the province even if Moscow tries to block the resolution.

Multiple omissions

Russia's foreign ministry, however, said on Sunday that a United Nations fact-finding mission to Kosovo found "multiple omissions" in the implementation of UN administration of the southern Serbian province.

"The mission discovered many omissions," the ministry said in a statement, a day after UN officials announced that the mission had completed its work ahead of a UN Security Council debate over the future status for the province.

The mission "confirmed that, despite relative progress in the socio-economic sphere, the implementation of key clauses in resolution 1244 and international standards in Kosovo cannot be said to be satisfactory," the statement said.

UN Security Council resolution 1244, which was passed in 1999, defines the legal status of Kosovo as a UN protectorate. The Russian foreign ministry said that a plan for the future status of Kosovo compiled by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari contradicted international law by threatening the sovereignty of Serbia.

The plan "cannot be the platform for a final decision in the UN Security Council since at its basis there is a limit on sovereignty that contradicts international law, including the UN Charter," the ministry said.

Propaganda hit

Ceku, on the other hand, said that Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and others opposing independence for Kosovo were not working in Serbia's best interest.

"There are Serbian leaders, radicals and politicians who are using Kosovo as a propaganda hit for them," Ceku said.

"On the other side, you have moderate young people who are tired of all these old stories about Kosovo. They want to look forward and join Europe. Serbia is being blocked by the old past," he added.

After the Serbian military left, some 220,000 Serbian civilians in the province fled in the face of reprisal attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists that killed dozens. Around 100,000 Serbs remain there.

"The biggest service Kostunica could do for the Kosovo Serbs is to let them go," Ceku said. "As soon as he understands it then he will be a great patriot."