UN's Kosovo Envoy Rejects Russian Call For More Talks

The United Nations' mediator on Kosovo has rejected a Russian call for more talks between Belgrade and ethnic Albanians on the province's future.

Remi Dourlot, spokesman for mediator Martti Ahtisaari, said talks between the two parties had already been "exhausted" in Vienna.

His statement came as Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, stormed out of a Security Council meeting on Kosovo today, accusing the head of the UN administration in Kosovo, Joachim Ruecker, of "preaching independence."

Ahtisaari last week forwarded his plan for "supervised independence" for Kosovo to the UN Security Council, having declared an end to 13 months of fruitless talks between the two sides.