Russia and U.S. are close to clash in the U.N. Security Council on the grounds of U.S.-backed plan that would grant independence to Serbia's breakaway province Kosovo. This diplomatic deadlock could unleash renewed violence.

A senior U.S. diplomat says the United States wants the international community to act quickly to help the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo achieve independence. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. State Department's third-highest-ranking official, told a U.S. House of Representatives committee today that Washington believes that supervised independence for Kosovo is now the only way forward.

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, regrets at giving independence to Kosovo, the province in the South that is cherished by Serbians as their historical heartland.

The top U.S. envoy for final status talks on the Serbian province of Kosovo says he fully supports the U.N.-administered region's independence, under supervision of the international community. VOA's Stephanie Ho has more on the story.

The United Nations' special envoy for Kosovo, former Finnish President Martii Ahtisaari, discussed his controversial proposal for future independence of Kosovo with the Security Council Tuesday. The Security Council must support any plan pertaining to the status of the UN-administered province.

NATO's secretary-general today said the UN Security Council should not "rush," but also not unnecessarily delay a decision on the future of the UN-administered Serbian province of Kosovo.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has refused to reveal how Moscow will vote on a UN resolution recommending internationally supervised independence for Kosovo. Speaking after talks with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Rocen in Moscow today, Lavrov said it is "too early to say who is going to vote, and how."