“I said several times that it is not possible to compare Kosovo with any other situation, for example in the territory of the Soviet Union,” Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.Rupel, whose country is the first ex-communist new member to hold the EU presidency, will host Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the EU’s external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, for talks next Tuesday and Wednesday.The issue of Kosovo and Moscow’s opposition to its independence from Serbia is set to dominate.

Russia also opposes an EU plan to send a 1,800-strong police and justice mission to replace a United Nations administration in Kosovo and supervise its independence. Moscow contends that would require a new resolution in the UN Security Council, where it holds a right of veto.

Rupel said the EU was likely to approve the mission at the next meeting of foreign ministers on February 18 but he did not know when Kosovo would declare independence.

“Our Russian friends said several times what they think on conflicts related to a new Security Council resolution. We are trying to convince them that they may be wrong. At the meeting we will again try to present our standpoint to our Russian friends,” Rupel said.

“I hope we will convince them at least in some matters.”

Kosovo’s 90% Albanian majority wants to declare independence in the coming weeks with Western backing, despite opposition from Serbia and its historic Orthodox ally, Russia.

Diplomatic sources say Kosovo is in negotiation with the EU on two possible independence dates, one of which is February 18 and the other in early March. Brussels is keen to persuade Kosovo’s Albanian leaders to hold off until the EU mission is launched.

Russian ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said on Wednesday recognition of Kosovo by EU states would be “a thorn” in their political relations with Moscow, but did not specify how Russia might retaliate other than by diplomatic protest.

Moscow argues that Kosovo could set a precedent for conflict regions nearer its borders, such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia or Transdniester in Moldova, where Russia aids rebel administrations against central governments.

“We have to understand the Russian Federation when it is sensitive when talking about these matters,” said Rupel. “But we will continue to argue that Kosovo is a … completely special case.”

Rupel said Yugoslavia’s constitution from 1974 gave Kosovo almost equal status to six federal republics, which were granted a high degree of self-rule and the theoretical right to secede.

“Furthermore, Serbia lost its reputation in Kosovo … with ethnic cleansing, expulsions, army attacks, atrocities.”

Rupel said the EU Kosovo mission was not connected to an offer by Brussels to sign a political agreement on closer ties with Serbia this month.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica denounced that offer as a sop to Serbia for the imminent loss of Kosovo and blocked the signing. The EU has shelved the plan for now.

Rupel suggested the EU would tread softly in any criticism of the conduct of Russia’s March 2 presidential election, despite the disqualification of a key liberal candidate and restrictions on international monitors.

“The more you move from the centre of Europe to the east, the more you see some problems (at elections), but all in all we must be aware that the Russian Federation is a state with huge political and democratic potential,” he said.

“Surely we want better handling (of the election),” he said. (javno)