By Matt Robinson
PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaciwarned Serbia on Tuesday to forget any notions of controllingparts of the new country.
"We understand and respect peaceful reactions, guaranteedby the law, but we will not allow the territorial integrity ofKosovo to be compromised," Thaci, a former guerrilla commander,said.
Kosovo's Albanian majority declared independence fromSerbia with Western backing on February 17. Serbs in the northreject the secession, fuelling fears the country is destinedfor partition.
"I am constantly in contact with NATO to prevent anyonefrom touching even one inch of Kosovo's territory," Thaci toldreporters in Racak. Serbs massacred Albanians in the village in1999 before NATO went to war to drive out Serb forces.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has pledged Serbia wouldcontinue to rule parts of Kosovo where "loyal citizens" lookedto Belgrade for government.
"Serbia will do everything to implement its jurisdictionand state prerogatives for all loyal citizens in Kosovo --Serbs and non-Albanians," Kostunica said after meeting Russia'slikely next president Dmitry Medvedev on Monday.
Belgrade has promised to keep providing jobs, schooling andinfrastructure for Serb areas of Kosovo. On Monday, dozens ofSerb army reservists lobbed rocks and bottles at Kosovo policeon Kosovo's eastern border, injuring 18 officers.
DAILY PROTESTS
Serbian Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said Belgradeshould stop servicing Kosovo's foreign debt followingindependence.
"Under the circumstances, Serbian taxpayers' money will goto Albanians ... That's insane," he told a news conference athis party's headquarters.
Since 1999 Serbia has continued to service Kosovo's debt ata cost of some $150 million (76 million pounds) a year as partof efforts to maintain its claim on the territory.
The United States and major European Union powers haverecognised Kosovo, nine years after going to war to save its90-percent Albanian majority from ethnic cleansing by Serbforces trying to crush a guerrilla insurgency.
Russia backs Serbia in its rejection of the secession and adeal to bring Serbia into Russia's South Stream gas pipelineproject was a show of support for Belgrade, Medvedev said.
Medvedev travelled to Belgrade on Monday to agree on aschedule for construction of the pipeline.
The gas deal was intended to show "our support, moral,material and economic, for a state which is in a very difficultposition, a state which unfortunately, by the will of a numberof other states, has had its territorial integrity put indoubt," Medvedev said.
Around 120,000 Serbs remain in Kosovo, just under half inthe north in a slice of land that runs adjacent to Serbia andwhere Serbs seem intent on cutting remaining ties withPristina.
NATO's 16,000-strong peace force has stepped up security inthe region, particularly the flashpoint town of Mitrovica,where Serbs and Albanians are divided by the River Ibar.
The force last week took control of two northern bordercrossings after they were burned down by Serb mobs.
The EU, which is deploying a 2,000-strong police andjustice mission to Kosovo, has withdrawn its small team fromthe Serb stronghold of north Mitrovica due to securityconcerns.
(Additional reporting by Branislav Krstic; Editing byRobert Woodward)
