(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-25 23:57

BELGRADE - Serbia intends to rule parts of Kosovo where "loyal citizens" still look to Belgrade for government, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Monday.

Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister and presidential candidate Dmitry Medvedev (R) listens to Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica addressing the media during a news conference in Belgrade February 25, 2008. [Agencies]

He won renewed backing from Russia, whose likely next president, Dmitry Medvedev, made a high-profile visit to say Moscow will continue to back Serbian sovereignty, despite Western support for the independence of Kosovo.

Kostunica said protest rallies against the new republic would continue and there would be no normalisation of ties with capitals which had accepted it, until they changed policy.

"Serbia will do everything to implement its jurisdiction and state prerogatives for all loyal citizens in Kosovo -- Serbs and non-Albanians," Kostunica said.

"There cannot be normalisation of relations with the states that recognised Kosovo independence until they annul their decision. Protest rallies will not stop as long as illegal independence is not annulled."

Medvedev, who met Kostunica and president Boris Tadic, said there would be no shift in his country's support for Serbia after the presidential election next week.

"We assume that Serbia is a single state whose jurisdiction covers all of its territory," Medvedev said. "We will stick to this position."

Serbia sees Kosovo as the cradle of the nation, where Serb history dates back 1,000 years and ancient monasteries dot the land. But few Serbs have visited the province, where 90 percent of the people are ethnic Albanian.

Don't condone violence

Kosovo's United Nations governor Joachim Ruecker urged Serbia to confirm its respect for the UN mandate, following Belgrade's endorsement of mob attacks on border posts and disruption of police and justice in the Serb-dominated north.

Ruecker said he told visiting Serb Minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, that UN Security Council Resolution 1244 puts the UN and the NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR "in charge of the whole territory of Kosovo".

"I made it very clear to him that the condoning of violence, direct or indirect support for violence, is totally unacceptable," Ruecker said, referring to earlier remarks by Samardzic saying that attacks on border posts were legitimate.

Samardzic said Serbia would do all it can to maintain peace and order "in the areas that it controls, where Serbs live".

"We will keep convincing Serbs to cooperate with the UN mission," he said. But the UN must remember that violence against international law begets violence.

Serbia would also provide jobs, schooling and infrastructure in Serb areas of Kosovo, Samardzic said.

"They must enjoy life in the Serbian state as all other citizens of Serbia enjoy that life. Serbia will do everything to achieve that," he told reporters in central Kosovo.