Protests Against Kosovo State Continue

Thousands of Serbs chanting "Kosovo is Serbia" marched Tuesday to a bridge dividing them from ethnic Albanians while others torched U.N. border checkpoints and cars to protest Kosovo's declaration of independence.

NATO troops later closed down the roads leading to the checkpoints, cutting off the only link between northern Kosovo and Serbia, said Besim Hoti, a U.N. spokesman. The move appeared to be due to fears that the reduction of U.N. control of the border could allow Serbian militants to return to fight in Kosovo, a land Serb nationalists consider the cradle of their state and religion.

Smoke billowed from two posts separating Kosovo from Serbia and flames engulfed several U.N. vehicles set ablaze in protest against Kosovo's weekend proclamation of independence and anger over international recognition of the new nation.

For two days, Kosovo's Serbs have shown their determination to shun the declaration by destroying U.N. and NATO property, setting off small bombs and staging noisy rallies through the Serb stronghold of Kosovska Mitrovica.

The attacks on U.N. border crossings showed the protesters' willingness to use violence to hold onto Kosovo.

Kosovo has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched air strikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission since has governed Kosovo, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and a multiethnic police force policing the province.

The divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica in Kosovo's north has been tense since the ethnic Albanian leadership in Pristina unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on Sunday - widely expected after internationally mediated talks on the province's future fell apart last year.

Overnight, three loud explosions shook the town; one damaged several cars near a U.N. building. Two hand grenades hit deserted homes that belonged to ethnic Albanians who fled this Serb stronghold after the 1999 war. A U.N. vehicle also was torched overnight in a nearby village.

No injuries were reported, and Kosovo Serb authorities said they were investigating the bombings.

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Russia, angered over the United States' recognition of Kosovo as an independent, sovereign state, hinted it might retaliate by supporting breakaway provinces from the Republic of Georgia, which the U.S. opposes. See below.

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Protesters tipped over metal sheds that housed Kosovo's customs service and sent them sliding down a hill and into a river. They vandalized and set fire to passport control booths.

"It was very dangerous and the police had to withdraw and call for help from NATO peacekeepers," said Veton Elshani, a spokesman for Kosovo's multiethnic police force.

NATO peacekeepers did not intervene but stepped up patrols on the road leading to Serbia. Alliance helicopters buzzed overhead.

The top U.N. official in Kosovo, Joachim Ruecker, condemned the checkpoint attacks and said he and the chief of NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo decided to close down the two crossings.

"Any violence is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated," the German diplomat said.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci called them "isolated incidents" that would not spoil independence festivities.

"NATO is there and everything is under control," Thaci said in Pristina after meeting with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Mitrovica's Serb authorities called on Belgrade to "urgently take steps" to protect Serbia's territorial integrity and protect its citizens - a covert way of inviting Serbia's military intervention.

"We cannot allow the institutions of a nonexistent state to be imposed on us and to pay taxes to some independent Kosovo," said Slavisa Ristic, head of the local Serb municipality. "That is impossible."

About 2,000 young Kosovo Serbs marched to a bridge that spans the Ibar River dividing the town between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, wrecking a NATO car in downtown Mitrovica with sticks and stones along the way.

International recognition of Kosovo's declaration of independence - led by the U.S., Australia and the European Union's biggest powers - appeared to feed Serbs' anger over a unilateral move that Belgrade rejected as illegal.

Russia, China and some EU members also strongly oppose letting Kosovo break away from Serbia over Serbia's objections.

In Vienna, Austria, Serbia's foreign minister urged members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation to condemn Kosovo's "illegal" declaration.

"History will judge those who have chosen to trample the bedrock of the international system and on the principles upon which security and cooperation in Europe have been established," Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said.

He said Serbia is ready - "at any time, in any place, in any manner" - to engage in talks with Pristina to agree on a mutually acceptable solution for Kosovo's future status.

"But we cannot give them sovereignty. ... For us, Kosovo is the crucible of our identity, it is the essential link between our past and our future," he said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Borislav Milosevic, the brother of late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, said Serbia should consider military action in its efforts to resolve the standoff with the breakaway region of Kosovo.

"The Serbian government said that they will use only peaceful measures, and that they will not resort to force. But personally I believe all measures are legitimate and the use of military force is legitimate," Milosevic, who lives in Moscow, told AP.

He conceded Kosovo could still be partitioned.

"If the Kosovars are able to create a government, then why should the Serbian population in northern Kosovo not also exercise their right to self-determination," he said.

Kosovo, where the population of 2 million is more than 90 percent ethnic Albanian, insisted during U.N.-led talks on statehood while Serbia, which has deep religious and historic ties to Kosovo, pushed for wide autonomy.

U.S. Warns Russia Not To Encourage Georgian Separatists

The United States warned Russia on Tuesday not to encourage separatists in the Republic of Georgia by comparing their cause to Kosovo's.

Russia strongly opposes recognition of the breakaway Serbian province's claimed status. Russian officials hinted last week that if Kosovo should declare independence, Russia might retaliate by recognizing the independence claims of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Those two Russian-supported regions are provinces of Georgia.

The United States has said that Kosovo's situation is unique and should set no precedent.

On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack repeated U.S. support for Georgia's territorial integrity.

"The Russians will say what they believe is in their interest," he said. "We think it is in the interest not only of the region of the South Caucasus, but in the Balkans, to encourage dialogue, to encourage greater stability, to encourage a dialogue among parties that helps parties work through differences in a peaceful way."

Associated Press writer Nebi Qena contributed to this report from Pristina.

By Dusan Stojanovic