(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-25 01:19

MOSCOW  -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday  instructed his government to provide humanitarian aid to Serbian enclaves in Kosovo, the Interfax news agency reported.

"If they need humanitarian assistance, let's provide it but without political motivation," Putin said at a meeting with government leaders.

The president also instructed the country's Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov "to finalize this issue."

"If the issue deals with political aspects, this is one side of the problem; the other side is humanitarian," Interfax quoted Putin as saying.

"If we look at humanitarian problems, we should proceed from the fact that the  population of this enclave (Kosovo) should feel fine regardless of ethnic origins," Putin said.

The president was commenting on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's remark that the humanitarian situation in Kosovo's Serbian enclaves has aggravated over the past two weeks.

The Serbian government has asked Russia for humanitarian assistance, Lavrov said.

"We consider the Serbian government's request very important," the foreign minister said. "Primarily, they are interested in medication, medical equipment, foodstuffs, hygiene kits."

The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February17.

By Thursday, 33 countries had formally recognized Kosovo's independence, including the United States, Canada, Japan, and 18 EU members.

Serbia and its ally Russia strongly oppose the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.