Nine years after Nato began bombing Serbia to stop a bloody crackdown on Kosova Albanians, Belgrade has proposed partitioning the newly- independent nation along ethnic lines.

The proposal to divide Kosova between its ethnic Albanian majority and minority Serbs was published on Monday, the anniversary of Nato's 78-day air war.

The document, submitted to the UN, says that the Serbian government recognizes UN jurisdiction in Kosova but insists that only Serbs, without Kosova Albanians, can control the police, judiciary and border customs services in parts of Kosova where Serbs comprise the majority.

Until last month, the local UN-run police force was comprised of both Serb and ethnic Albanian officers.

'Nato takeover'

Kosova, where 90 per cent of the two million residents are ethnic Albanian, declared independence from Serbia last month.

Serbia, which considers Kosova the “historic cradle of its nation”, denounced the declaration as invalid under international law.

"The Serb police officers are answering to the local Serb authorities and work under the command" of the UN police in Kosova, the Belgrade document said.

Hajredin Kuqi, Kosova's deputy prime minister, rejected the proposal saying it was "reminiscent of the old way of thinking".

Vojislav Kostunica, Serbia's prime minister and other Serbian officials, marked the anniversary of the Nato bombings by attending a service at St Marko's church in Belgrade, commemorating Serbs who died in the air raids.

Kostunica said that the ultimate aim of the bombing had been a Nato takeover of Kosova.

"Now it is more than clear that the merciless destruction of Serbia in the Nato bombing had only one goal, and that is to turn Kosova into the first Nato state in the world," he said.

Russian aid

In the Kosova capital Pristina, Fatmir Sejdiu, the country's president, thanked the alliance for the campaign that "stopped the aggression of Serbia's military and paramilitaries against the people of Kosova.

"We express our deepest gratitude and thanks to the US, EU ... for helping Kosova when our people were threatened by extinction".

An estimated 1,200 to 2,500 people were killed in the bombing campaign which came after the collapse of talks aimed at ending the conflict between forces loyal to Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslavia's president, and ethnic Albanian guerillas.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, ordered the government to send humanitarian aid to Serb-populated areas of Kosova.

Russia backs Serbia's opposition to Kosova independence, but Putin said that the gesture should not bear political overtones.

"If humanitarian aid is needed, let's do it, but without political coloring," he said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica attends a memorial service marking the 9th anniversary of NATO's bombing of Serbia, in St. Marko's church in Belgrade March 24, 2008.

Al-Jazeera