Following the expiration of troika's mediation, Kosovo's leaders announced start of consultations for adoption of a declaration on independence.

Pristina negotiating team spokesman Skender Hiseni promised it will happen "much earlier than May."

Meanwhile, the EU member states, but for Cyprus, express support to the breakaway province's independence.

The Russian Foreign Ministry keeps on convincing that such a decision will cause a chain reaction in Balkans. "Kosovo's independence will not pass without consequences," RF FM Sergei Lavrov said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband offered to expand NATO contingent in Kosovo to neutralize any violence outburst, Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.