(LONDON) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she intended to discuss the risk of Kosovo's fragmentation with her European counterparts at a meeting where Russia has not been invited.

"We want to make certain that there are no efforts to partition Kosovo," the top US diplomat told reporters while en route to London, where she will also attend talks on Iran's nuclear programme and the Middle East peace process.

"Kosovo is now an independent country recognised by all the countries that will be coming to this meeting."

Kosovo unilaterally announced its independence from Serbia on February 17 and since then, around 40 countries have recognised its declaration, but Belgrade and Moscow have rejected it.

The meeting which Rice will attend will also feature foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany and Italy, along with the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

The five countries are members of the so-called Kosovo Contact Group, which also includes Russia, whose diplomatic chief Sergei Lavrov was set to be in London Friday for talks on the Middle East peace process.

Lavrov was not, however, invited to discussions between Rice and her European colleagues, according to a senior official in the US State Department, who declined to be identified.

"There are good arguments for maintaining the contact group," the official said.

"It still exists. But given the differences between the five countries and Russia, it is useful to coordinate strategy."

Rice said that the United States continues "to have discussions with the Russians."

"We will continue to try to make sure that despite the differences we have on Kosovo, that those differences do not fuel in any way further conflict there."

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