Serbia to Keep Servicing Kosovo Debt,Minister Says

`Kosovo is not an issue of Serbia`s sovereignty and territorial integrity,` Kostunica said.

Serbia will keep paying interest on Kosovo's debt to show it still considers the territory a part of Serbia despite its declaration of independence, a minister said on Thursday.

The leaders of Kosovo's 90 percent Albanian majority declared independence on Feb 17. On Tuesday, Serbia's Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said Belgrade should stop servicing Kosovo's foreign debt, which is calculated at some $1.3 billion at end- 2007.

But the proposal of Dinkic, a liberal in a government dominated by nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, did not fit in with the government's policy of treating Kosovo's declaration as null and void.

"At the government session the Prime Minister reminded minister Dinkic that it would be contrary to the official policy that rejected the independence as illegal," Education Minister Zoran Loncar told reporters at a regular government news conference.

"Kosovo is an indivisible part of Serbia according to the resolution adopted by the parliament," he added.

Serbia has been servicing Kosovo's debt to the tune of some $150 million a year despite having lost control of the province in 1999 -- a political decision aimed at maintaining Belgrade's claim on the breakaway territory.

"Kosovo is not an issue of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Kostunica told Russian television on Wednesday. "It is a part of Serbia closely linked to the Serb identity."

Serbia's ruling coalition parties unanimously rejected Kosovo's independence but remain divided how to deal with the practical aspects of its secession, and with the fallout created by Kosovo's swift recognition by the United States and major European Union countries.

The pro-Western parties in the coalition, the Democratic Party of Serbian president Boris Tadic and Dinkic's G17+ advocate closer ties with the West for the sake of economic development, no matter what happens with Kosovo.

Kostunica, however, says that Serbia should stand firm, especially towards the EU, which is due to send a supervisory mission to Kosovo soon.

Belgrade has already recalled its ambassadors to the U.S. and other states that recognised Kosovo, and violent protests have targeted embassies and foreign businesses.

Kosovo became a United Nations protectorate in 1999, when NATO intervened to expel Serb forces accused of ethnic cleansing while fighting a guerrilla insurgency.