The United Nations Security Council has decided to send a special mission to Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province before voting on its future status.
British Ambassador John Perry, who is the current president of the council, said representatives of 15 member nations will visit Kosovo later this month. Perry said Belgium's ambassador, Johan Verbeke, will head the U.N. delegation to Pristina.
Russian U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin last month proposed the mission before the council considers mediator Martti Ahtisaari's proposal for Kosovo.
The Ahtisaari plan envisions internationally supervised independence for the Serbian province, which Belgrade adamantly rejects.
Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999, after NATO air raids halted Belgrade's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
Some information for this report was provided by AP .
