UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Serbia on Tuesday called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in its breakaway province of Kosovo.

    In a letter to the president of the 15-member council, Serbia's Ambassador to the United Nations Pavle Jevremovic urged it to consider the grave situation in the Serbian province of Kosovo where a unilateral declaration of independence was expected soon.

    Jevremovic said he was instructed by his government to request the council to "consider an extremely grave situation in the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija where we witness the final preparatory activities for a unilateral declaration of the independence ..."

    Such a move would constitute a violation of UN Security Council resolution 1244 and the territorial integrity of Serbia and endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, he said.

    Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic intends to participate in this meeting, he added.

    The Security Council is expected to discuss the request on Wednesday, UN diplomats said.

    Kosovo, a Serbian province inhabited by a majority of ethnic Albanians, was expected to unilaterally declare independence after multiple rounds of direct talks, which were mediated by the troika of the EU, Russia and the United States, failed to resolve its future status before the Dec. 10 deadline set by Europe and the United States.

    The breakaway region is ready to declare independence in the coming days, its leader Hashim Thaci said after talks with EU top diplomat Javier Solana late January.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow categorically disagrees with a unilateral proclamation of the independence of Kosovo.