The Serbian government says it has adopted a list of proposed rules for negotiations on the future status of Kosovo. Government officials say the proposed guidelines were sent Friday to the ambassadors of the six countries that make up the Contact Group.

Belgrade and Pristina plan to hold another round of negotiations on the status of Kosovo late next week, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Serbia's minister for Kosovo confirmed that Belgrade has been receiving off-the-record proposals that it form a confederation with its predominantly Albanian province, but said such an agreement was out of the question.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic says a compromise solution can be found in settling the future of the disputed Serbian province of Kosovo.

Kosovo's leaders said they would participate in new negotiations - but they warned Monday that, beyond that, they will accept no further delays in settling the province's final status. And they pledged not to retreat from their demand for independence.

Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity regarding the future status of Kosovo, the Bush administration is stressing that it still supports a U.N. plan that would grant provisional independence to the U.N.-administered Serbian province.

Co-sponsors in the talks on the status of Kosovo will continue negotiations within the Contact Group in Vienna Wednesday. Britain, France, Italy, Germany, the United States and Russia will meet for the first time after a draft resolution on Kosovo by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari was removed from consideration in the UN Security Council last week under pressure from veto-wielding Moscow.

Kosovo officials meeting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday said they will not declare independence for four months while negotiations about the Kosovo's status are under way.

Serbia says the U.N. Security Council's decision to set aside a resolution on Kosovo's future is a victory for Belgrade and Moscow. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica says Friday's move by the Security Council reinforces Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and is a defeat for those who want independence for Kosovo and its ethnic-Albanian population.

Russia's foreign minister said Friday the country's opposition to Kosovo independence without the consent of Serbia is based on respect for international law, not on Moscow's own interests.

Russian experts believe the West has decided to grant Kosovo independence despite objections from Russia and Serbia to the proposal, adding that Russia will veto a UN Security Council vote expected later Friday.

Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku said on Friday Kosovo should declare unilateral independence from Serbia on 28th November, arguing that a Western bid to steer its secession through the United Nations had failed.