Serbia rules out invading Kosovo

Belgrade will not use force against Kosovo if the province declares independence next month. That’s according to Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremi?, who's in Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart.

The minister said military action had been 'excluded', but that ‘political, diplomatic, economic and judicial means’ would be used to override such a decision.

The leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, has already vowed to declare independence from Serbia soon after December 10 if Belgrade fails to accommodate its wishes.

His party won elections on November 18.

December 10 is the deadline for internationally-mediated talks to resolve the dispute over the status of the Serb province.

Kosovo has rejected a Serb offer granting it wide-ranging autonomy.

The party won elections in the Serbian troubled province on November 18.