Serbian news reports say Belgrade has officially decided to go forward with its own local elections in newly independent Kosovo, in a move the United Nations says is illegal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow can use its seat on the Security Council to block Kosovo's membership in the United Nations. The statement coincides with the arrival in Belgrade of the first planeload of Russian humanitarian aid for Kosovo's Serb minority.

The first shipment of Russian aid to minority Serbs in newly independent Kosovo has arrived in Belgrade, in a show of Moscow's support for Serbia in its dispute with the West over Kosovo.

Political leaders of large ethnic Hungarian communities in Serbia and neighboring countries say the international recognition of Kosovo could lead to more hardship for minorities in the region. They spoke at a government-sponsored conference in Budapest.

Russia says it is responding to a Serbian request for humanitarian assistance to Kosovo, the disputed territory that recently declared its independence from Belgrade.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has announced his resignation amid disagreements in the coalition government over Kosovo.

Sweden today officially recognised Kosovo as an independent state.

Serbian prosecutors are preparing an indictment against a suspect accused of setting fire to the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade last month during riots against the Kosovo declaration of independence.

A senior Bush administration official Thursday rejected the partition of newly-independent Kosovo in any form. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns says the United States and European allies are supporting Kosovo independence in the interest of a stable Balkans. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

US-based Russia specialist Dimitri Simes told a Washington audience Tuesday that fundamental disagreement over Kosovo's independence from Serbia will drive Russia and the United States even further apart. But a U.S. diplomat says there were no other choices. VOA's Barry Wood has more.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev has told Serbian leaders there will be no shift in his country's support for Serb sovereignty over Kosovo.

Russia has sharply criticized the planned European Union mission to Kosovo, saying the deployment without prior approval by the United Nations' Security Council violates international law.