(Adds more Solana quotes, Pierce on Solana) By Paul Taylor and Matt Robinson BRUSSELS/PRISTINA, Serbia, July 17 (Reuters) - Seeking to raise pressure on Russia, the European Union said on Thursday it could withdraw the issue of Kosovo's final status from the U.N. Security Council if Moscow does not accept a resolution soon. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana made the comment after Russia rejected a third draft U.N. resolution on the province on Monday, a watered-down text calling for more Serb-Albanian talks which Moscow said was still "permeated with the concept of the independence of Kosovo". Ethnic Albanian leaders in the breakaway Serbian province said the Council had failed on Kosovo and urged the West to offer an alternative route to independence from Serbia. Solana said a further 120-day period of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Pristina would be conducted instead under the authority of the major power Contact Group, where Moscow has a seat but not a veto. After that period, the final status of Kosovo would be fixed. "We hope that will be decided in the context of a United Nations resolution", Solana said, implying the West might seek another source of legitimacy if Russia was still stonewalling. Asked whether U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari would remain as mediator, he said: "I cannot answer that formally now but I think it will probably be under the aegis of the Contact Group." The informal group, created in the mid-1990s to oversee Balkan diplomacy, comprises the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. Solana said there was still a short period left to push for a U.N. resolution. He spoke after meeting Ahtisaari, whose peace plan called for Kosovo's independence under EU supervision. The former Finnish president left without commenting. Diplomats said the United States was loath to dump Ahtisaari, seeing it as too much of a concession to Moscow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after meeting Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica that Berlin still wanted a U.N. resolution, but made clear it too was eyeing other routes. "We are now thinking about whether it would be possible to support a phase of negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina to try once again to find a solution," Merkel told reporters. Kostunica said Belgrade wanted to begin negotiations with Pristina as soon as possible, and that did not require a U.N. resolution. "These negotiations should get underway without any interference from the Ahtisaari plan," he said. ALTERNATIVE ROUTES Leaders of the 90 percent Albanian majority have threatened to declare independence unilaterally, but want the support of the United States and European Union. Russia's 'No' was greeted with an air of inevitability in the Kosovo capital, Pristina. President Fatmir Sejdiu again called for an alternative route. "If there is no solution through the U.N. Security Council -- a very quick solution -- alternative routes should be sought, but in cooperation with the international community," he said. At the United Nations, Deputy British Ambassador Karen Pierce told reporters Western powers aimed to formally introduce a final draft resolution at the Security Council within days. "We will get some instructions from capitals as to how hard and how fast to go, but at the moment the mood is to 'put it in blue' very soon," she said, using a U.N. shorthand term for formally introducing a resolution. Asked when it would be presented, she said: "I'd just say shortly, within the next 36 hours but don't hold me to that." She played down Solana's comments, saying: "Solana doesn't speak for us on the Security Council or in terms of what the Security Council does, so I think you should wait to hear from the co-sponsors." Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombed to drive out Serb forces and halt the killing and expulsion of Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas. NATO powers leading 16,000 troops in the territory are warning of unrest, and the prospect of a general election in November is beginning to test political unity. But Russia says there can be no solution without the consent of Serbia, which says Kosovo is sacred land, and its secession would send shockwaves across the still-fragile Balkans. The Contact Group cannot provide a legal basis for deploying an EU police force and a European civilian high representative, nor for renewing the mandate of the NATO-led KFOR security force. Most EU states agree that requires U.N. authority. Russia said the draft resolution amounted to independence by stealth. Washington says Kosovo will be independent one way or another, but unilateral moves could split the 27-nation EU. The Kosovo daily Zeri said Western powers were considering an international conference on Kosovo in September in Paris. (Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons at the United Nations and Louis Charbonneau in Berlin)
