Russia urges UN to annul Kosovo independence

Russia on Sunday urged the United Nations to annul Kosovo's declaration of independence and said it could cause an escalation in ethnic violence in the region.

"We expect the UN mission and NATO-led forces in Kosovo to take immediate action to carry out their mandate ... including the annulling of the decisions of Pristina's self-governing organs and the taking of tough administrative measures against them," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The decisions by the Kosovo leadership create the risk of an escalation of tension and inter-ethnic violence in the province and of new conflict in the Balkans," it said.

(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Peter Millership)