MOSCOW (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that blocking independence for Kosovo could allow the Serbian province to slide into instability.

De Hoop Scheffer said he had urged Putin at a meeting in the Kremlin to allow a United Nations Security Council vote on the province's future and that he was concerned over delays.

"NATO allies are responsible for 16,000 men and women in uniform who are creating and guaranteeing the climate of security and stability in Kosovo," de Hoop Scheffer told Reuters in an interview after meeting Putin.

"And I think that climate is not well served when it will take longer and longer before the security council can come to any final conclusions," he said.

The fate of Kosovo is emerging as the latest sticking point in relations between Moscow and Western powers, which are pushing to give Kosovo's 2 million Albanians independence.

Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, is blocking the adoption of a council resolution that would set the NATO-patrolled territory on the path to statehood.

Kosovo, seen by Serbia as a cradle of its culture, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to halt the slaughter and expulsion of civilians in a two-year war with separatist Albanian guerrillas.

Putin is coming under pressure from world leaders including U.S. President George W. Bush to agree to Kosovo's independence.

He is due to meet Bush on July 1-2 in Maine, an encounter some diplomats see as the last chance for a deal on Kosovo. For best video experience, fast broadband internet connection and good quality speakers or headphones are recommended. If you cannot see video, you may need to install the latest macromedia flash player plugin that you can get free from www.macromedia.com or www.adobe.com

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's threat to aim its missiles at targets in Europe is out of step with the spirit of NATO-Russian partnership, the alliance's chief said on Tuesday after talks with President Vladimir Putin.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer advised all sides to "lower the volume" of rhetoric over differences between Russia and the West over issues including missile defense and the future of Serbia's Kosovo province.

Putin has said Russia would return to its Cold War stance of targeting its missiles at sites in Europe if Washington goes ahead with a plan -- backed by NATO -- to station parts of a missile defense shield near Russia's Western borders.

"The NATO-Russia relationship is one of partnership, and in the framework of the partnership these remarks about targeting missiles do not fit, and they do not have a place in these discussions," de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference.

"I do think that in this already fairly complicated discussion it is advisable to lower the volume a bit of the public comments made by the one or the other."

"As it is with your iPod, if you put the volume too high it will in the long run damage your ears ... There is no reason to speak with megaphones," he said.

The NATO chief stressed though that this warning did not apply to his Kremlin meeting with Putin, which he said was frank and constructive.

On Kosovo, de Hoop Scheffer said he had appealed to Putin to allow a vote on the province's future in the United Nations Security Council "as soon as possible."

Russia, which holds a veto in the Council, opposes a Western-backed proposal to set Kosovo on the path to independence from Serbia and has urged other members of the council to delay a vote on the issue.

Labels: Kosova

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