UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 that defines Kosovo as a sovereign territory of Serbia is still in force and remains as the legal basis for UNs mandate in Kosovo.

"UNSCR 1244 remains in force. The UN civil mission in Kosovo received its assignment from the SC and considers the resolution as the legal basis for its mandate, and will apply it according to how events unfold," said Ki-moon.

Ki-moon said that Kosovo is "a very specific case" and it is different from other cases because, according to Ki-moon, since 1999, the international community had been "intervening in the implementation of Serbian sovereignty in the province."

"I also want to point out that recognition of states is the individual affair of UN member states and not of the UN Secretary General and Secretariat," Ban Ki-moon concluded.

Ban Ki-moon's statement came after a UN meeting in which large number of states supported the idea of continuing status talks about Kosovo on basis of the UN resolution.

Commenting on the support, Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said that 8 out of 7 countries in the Security COuncil supported Serbia's position

Jeremic said that both the EULEX mission and the International Steering Group for Kosovo are functioning outside of the UN Resolution and are not in line with the principles of the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act.

Jeremic said that the actions of 20 or so states that recognized illegal declaration of independence by Kosovo Albanian are contributing to the destabilization of the international system and are making it less predictable.

Russian Ambassador at the UN, Vitalii Churkin, said that, as a result of the illegal recognition of Kosovo's independence, "the international community is disoriented, the situation in Kosovo is confusing, Serbia is politically unstable, some separatist groups are announcing similar moves, while some countries are concerned for their territorial integrity."

US Ambassador with the UN Zalmay Kalilzad aid that US did not support positions of the UN Security Council because the positions violate "reality and facts".

"Everything that is ignoring what has happened and doesn't deal with facts will not have our support. What happened in Kosovo cannot be canceled," said Kalilzad and added that both Kosovo and Serbia have a common future "but within the EU."