(Adds Kostunica, Lavrov quotes) By Beti Bilandzic BELGRADE, April 19 (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday called for more talks on the future of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province, saying it would reject a United Nations-imposed decision to give the Albanian majority independence. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed that threats "from Albanian terrorists or foreign officials that violence will erupt unless Kosovo is proclaimed independent are blackmail". Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to stop them attacking ethnic Albanian civilians while fighting a separatist insurgency. About 10,000 Albanians were killed and nearly one million temporarily driven out of the country until the West intervened. U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari spent a year mediating talks between Serbia and Kosovo Albanians without finding a hint of compromise between their diametrically opposed positions. The Albanians are impatient for independence, which Serbia rejects. The West fears there could be violence if a decision is put off further and European Union states have told Russia Kosovo is going to be an EU problem if it is not resolved. "Any unilaterally imposed solution is absolutely unacceptable," Lavrov said after talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic. "We are starting from the position that it is necessary to continue negotiations and we are coordinating with our Serb partners." Tadic rejected the West's contention that Kosovo is a unique case. He said countries with restive minorities demanding their own states were closely watching how the U.N. Security Council would solve the Kosovo issue. "It would set a dangerous precedent and would have serious consequences for the stability of the entire Balkan region but also in other regions in the world," Tadic said. Ahtisaari's plan, now under review by the Security Council, proposes EU-supervised independence. Belgrade hopes Russia, its Orthodox ally and a veto holder in the Security Council, can help it buy time or even impose its veto. Lavrov said the Ahtisaari plan had already "failed", but did not say whether Russia would use its veto if the essence of the plan was presented in a resolution. The United States and EU support the plan and want a quick Council endorsement. "We are interested in the stabilisation of the situation in the Balkans in general and Serbia in particular," Lavrov said. "Stability can be shattered by any attempt to unilaterally recognise the independence of Kosovo." In deference to Russia, the United Nations will send a fact-finding mission to Kosovo on April 25-27, although the world body has received quarterly reports from its own mission in Kosovo since 2003, in addition to Ahtisaari's assessment. Lavrov said Council members "absolutely must" visit the Serb enclaves to see conditions there. The United Nations in Kosovo says it will be happy to take the fact-finders anywhere they want to go but so far has received no request or programme. Most of the 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo live in the isolated settlements and often complain of harassment and attacks.
