WASHINGTON - The United States expressed concern on Thursday about "contradictory" signals from Serbia over how Belgrade might respond to a declaration of independence by Kosovo.
The US State Department said it would ask Serbia to clarify its stance after state secretary Dusan Prorokovic warned in an interview with the New York Times that Belgrade would be ready to deploy Serbian troops if Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government declared independence.
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, in an interview published Thursday with the Financial Times, struck a more moderate tone, saying Serbia would not threaten military action in response to any independence move by Kosovo.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: "We have two contradictory statements out there by two officials from the government" and said threats of military force were "unhelpful."
"It would be unhelpful and certainly a step backward for this region, for Serbia as well as for Kosovars if there were any renewed violence in Kosovo or associated with it," Casey said.
"And to the extent that we are engaged in ongoing diplomatic discussions, it is certainly inappropriate and unhelpful for anyone to be making threats."
Casey said Washington believed the foreign minister's comments represented Serbia's position, rather than the more strident words from Prorokovic. But he said Washington would ask Serbia to confirm the country's diplomatic stance.
"We believe, based on everything else that we've previously heard, that the foreign minister's position is the one that represents the views of his government," Casey said.
"But given that these are inflammatory remarks and they are unfortunate, it certainly is appropriate for us to go to the Serbian government and ask them for clarification just to verify the foreign minister's views are, in fact, the ones that are represented."
Casey added that he would "put more stock" in the foreign minister's comments than those of Prorokovic, "who is not engaged in formal diplomatic discussions."
A "troika" of the United States, Russia and the European Union are leading negotiations designed to broker a compromise between ethnic Albanian leaders favoring independence and Serbia, which opposes independence.
Although it is still officially a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by a United Nations mission since the end of its 1998-1999 war with Belgrade.
UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari has recommended internationally supervised independence for Kosovo.
Serbia, backed by Russia, rejects any move to independence, while offering to negotiate a high level of autonomy for the province.
If talks fail, Kosovo leaders -- with support from US and EU member states -- have said they are ready to declare independence by the end of the year.
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09/06/2007 21:54 GMT