French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that Russia has not agreed to a French proposal for a six-month delay on a UN vote on Kosovo's status.

"For the time being, the necessary progress has not been made," Sarkozy told reporters after his talks with U.S. President George W. Bush.

Sarkozy Thursday proposed a six-month pause for reflection on the future status of Kosovo, and said that Russia should recognise "the unavoidable prospect" of independence for Kosovo.

Kosovo, with 90 percent of its population being Albanians, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombings drove Serbian troops out of the province.

Talks on its future status between Kosovo's Albanian majority and Serbian authorities were officially launched in November 2005, but ended without agreement 13 months later.

UN Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtisaari has proposed internationally supervised independence for Kosovo, a move backed by the United States, most EU countries and Kosovo Albanian leaders, but rejected by Serbia and its traditional ally Russia.

The United States and European nations introduced a revised UN draft resolution a week ago supporting the independence of Kosovo under international supervision, which was immediately rejected by Russia.

Source: Xinhua