UNITED NATIONS - Serbia is prepared to offer its secessionist province of Kosovo the "largest autonomy in the world" in upcoming talks on the future of the independence-seeking region, the nation's president said Thursday.
Serbian President Boris Tadic described as "unhelpful" statements by President Bush and other members of his administration to the effect that Kosovo will gain independence at the end of the current negotiating process which is set to conclude on Dec. 10.
"This is not very useful," Tadic said. "Saying that Kosovo has to become an independent country by the end of negotiations on Dec. 10. These statements are not encouraging Kosovo Albanians to show flexibility in the talks."
Tadic is due to meet in New York on Friday with ethnic Albanian leaders of Kosovo for the first face-to-face talks between the two sides. They will be mediated by negotiators from the United States, Russia, and the European Union.
Over the past year, the issue of Kosovo's future status has become one of the main irritants in the increasingly tense relationship between a resurgent Russia and the United States. Washington strongly supports eventual independence for the province, but Moscow backs Belgrade in its insistence that Kosovo must technically remain part of Serbia.
The province of 2 million people — most of them ethnic Albanians — has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO waged a 78-day aerial war to prevent a Serb military crackdown against Albanian separatists.
A previous round of negotiations collapsed earlier this year. On Thursday, Tadic indicated that Serbia was willing to make further concessions in the talks, but would still demand that its "sovereignty and territorial integrity remain intact".
"We are offering to Kosovo Albanians the best possible rights, which means the largest autonomy in the world, (including) some elements of sovereign countries, for example access to international financial institutions," Tadic said.
But Veton Surroi, a key member of the ethnic Albanian negotiating team, said there was little likelihood of a deal being reached at the upcoming talks unless Serbia accepts "that our place is in Europe together, as two independent nations."
Tadic warned that independence for Kosovo against Serbia's will could create a precedent which separatists around the world would use to justify their struggle.
"Kosovo's independence would present a huge danger for many sovereign countries ... that have separatist movements," he said. "It would have very serious consequences — there are many Kosovos in the region (including) Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia ... Macedonia, Bosnia or Kurdistan."
Also on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice met at the United Nations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and representatives of European Union nations forming the Contact Group of Kosovo negotiators.
Participants agreed that "the status quo" in Kosovo was unsustainable, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said after the talks.
"It's the view of all members of the Contact Group that representatives in Belgrade and Pristina need to engage with the (mediators) with a real constructive spirit," Miliband said.
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