PUTIN SCORNS MOVE TO BACK KOSOVO !

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that recognition of Kosovo independence - expected within days - would be immoral and illegal.
The UN Security Council will hold a closed meeting on Thursday to discuss Kosovo, which is poised to declare independence from Serbia.
It would be "not moral and not legal" to back the declaration, Mr Putin said.
The UN meeting is being held at the request of Serbia, which is strongly opposed to Kosovo's attempt to secede.
Kosovo is expected to make an independence declaration on Sunday or Monday.
Serbia's ambassador to the UN told the BBC that Belgrade would refrain from retaliatory measures against Kosovo.

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But Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned that his country would not allow itself to be humiliated by a "puppet state" on its territory.
The government in Belgrade announced it was rejecting Kosovo's plans in advance.
"This [decision] annuls the acts and actions of the interim government of Kosovo that proclaim unilateral independence, because they violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia," it declared in a statement.

It also said it would "void all decisions by the European Union to send a [civilian] mission to Kosovo".
The US and many EU countries plan to recognise Kosovo's independence.
"Are you not ashamed in Europe of the double standards you are applying to settle problems?" Mr Putin asked at an international news conference on Thursday.
He dismissed claims that Kosovo was a "special case", arguing that it was in the same category as the separatist conflicts in parts of the former Soviet Union, such as Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Trans-Dniester.
He said Russia - a permanent member of the UN Security Council - "will not ape them [the West]", warning that "we have a ready-made plan and we know what we are going to do". Russia is a traditional ally of Serbia.

The United Nations has administered Kosovo since a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 drove out Serb forces accused of persecuting the province's majority ethnic Albanians.
A civilian police and justice mission for Kosovo is expected to be given the go-ahead by EU member states by the end of the week.
A senior official told the BBC's Oana Lungescu in Brussels that deployment of the 1,800 staff would be staggered over four months.
By early June, 1,500 police officers including special anti-riot units and 250 judges, prosecutors and customs officials would be in place to maintain stability in the self-proclaimed state.
The police and judges are expected to come from Germany and Italy as well as other countries, including the United States, Turkey, Croatia, Norway and Switzerland.

BBC NEWS REPORT.