BELGRADE, February 4 (RIA Novosti) - Kosovo will declare independence in February, the breakaway Serb province's president, prime minister and parliament speaker said on Monday after a meeting in Pristina with Albania's foreign minister.
"Parliament will declare independence in cooperation and coordination with the European Union member states, the international administration in Kosovo and the U.S.," Kosovo Albanian-language mass media quoted parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi as saying.
Presidential polls in Serbia on Sunday gave the country's incumbent pro-European President Boris Tadic a narrow victory over pro-Moscow nationalist Tomislav Nikolic. Russia backs Belgrade's desire to see the breakaway southern province of Kosovo remain a part of Serbia, while many EU countries and the U.S. would like to see Kosovo independent.
Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since 1999, when a NATO bombing of Belgrade ended a bloody war between ethnic Albanian and Serb forces.
