Serbian President Boris Tadic hinted at a possible initiative by Belgrade to partition the breakaway Kosovo, drawing an angry dismissal from Pristina on Tuesday.

"If we spend all other options, and there are many, I'm ready to consider that option," Tadic said in an interview, pointing out that partition is "not on the agenda at this moment.

Formally, Tadic has little real power as the head of state, but as the leader of the pro-European coalition which won in May elections, he is the actual spokesman for Serbia.

Kosovo, with its vastly dominant Albanian population, declared independence from Serbia in February. While quickly recognized by leading Western nations, the promotion Pristina had hoped for in the United Nations was blocked by Serbia's ally Russia.

Serbia insists that Kosovo is a part of its soil and has launched an initiative at the United Nations to send the issue of its independence to the International Court of Justice. The UN General Assembly votes on the initiative on October 8.

The government in Pristina, dominated by Albanians and boycotted by minority Serbs, meanwhile declared the issue closed.

"Our message to all those who profess partitioning Kosovo is that they've lost Kosovo for ever," the Kosovo parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in Pristina.

"Kosovo now has internationally recognized, defined borders and any attempt to change them would open new problems in the Balkans," he warned. "We don't believe that the Balkans and Europe are interested in creating the problem of redrawing regional borders."

But Pristina is not in control over the northernmost one-quarter of its territory along the boundary with Serbia proper, which is comprehensively dominated by Serbs, a 
10-per cent overall minority.

Aided by Belgrade, Serbs established structures of parallel authority with the town Mitrovica as their hub and are hostile, even violently, to authorities in Pristina, both local and international.

Kosovo was administered by UN since NATO ousted Belgrade's security forces from the province in 1999 to end ethnic bloodshed.

While the UN have been downsizing and handing over a part of their authority to an EU mission since Kosovo declared independence, NATO remains as the chief peacekeeper in Kosovo.