By Ksenija Prodanovic
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia will not allow itself to behumiliated by a "puppet state" on its territory, Prime MinisterVojislav Kostunica said on Thursday as Serbia prepared to annulKosovo's proclamation of independence in advance.
The ethnic Albanian majority of Kosovo plans to declareindependence on Sunday and is expected to win swift recognitionfrom major Western powers despite fierce opposition from Serbiaand Russia.
"There would be no greater humiliation for Serbia if it, inany way, signed or agreed in some indirect way to this puppetstate", Kostunica told the daily Glas Javnosti in an interview.
His divided coalition will close ranks on Thursday to adopta document annulling the proclamation in advance.
"We need to focus on making important and historicdecisions, to once and for all annul all acts of Albanianseparatists and confirm that Kosovo is an integral part ofSerbia," he said.
The daily Vecernje Novosti said Serbia's pre-emptiveannulment was to ensure "that there is no illusion, not for asplit second, that the phantom state can live in Serbia".
The government will also review its secret "action plans"designed to counter the declaration of independence. The planscover security, diplomatic, legal, economic and socialmeasures.
Kosovo's declaration comes almost nine years after NATObombs drove out Serb forces to halt a wave of killings by Serbforces in a two year-war against separatist rebels.
The United States and many EU countries are expected torecognize the new state quickly.
RUSSIA OPPOSED
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Europeof double standards in pushing for Kosovo's independence fromSerbia but not recognising other states' separatist bids.
"We consider that the one-sided support of a declaration ofindependence by Kosovo is not moral and not right," Putin saidat his annual news conference at the Kremlin. "It's shameful toapproach these problems with double standards."
Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnicAlbanians, but around 120,000 Serbs remain.
In a bid to stop the declaration of independence, Serbia,with the backing of Russia has asked for an extraordinarysession of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.
Russia called the meeting at Serbia's request but saidMoscow had little hope that the council, which is deadlocked onKosovo, can resolve the issue.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic is expected to addressthe closed-door session of the council, diplomats said.
The document annulling Kosovo's independence, to beendorsed by parliament, will stop short of explicitly banningthe government from advancing Serbia's ties with the EuropeanUnion.
The dispute over pursuing closer ties with the bloc, whichaims to take over the supervision of Kosovo in a 4-monthtransition from the United Nations, has pushed the governmentto the verge of collapse.
Kostunica insists on putting all other issues aside, untilthe Kosovo issue has been solved.
Taking a softer stand, Serbian president Boris Tadic, whowill be inaugurated on Friday, says that "a European future forSerbia has no alternative, but neither is there an alternativeto the defence of territorial integrity".
