With pressure mounting from his American and European allies to strike a deal with arch-rival Serbia, Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, vows to resist "blackmail" with a deadline looming to reach an agreement in the coming weeks. Kurti accuses Belgrade of wanting "to become small Russia in the Balkans". For months, European and American envoys have been shuttling between the Serbian and Kosovo capitals in a fresh diplomatic thrust to resolve long-simmering tensions, nearly 25 years after a bloody conflict between the two sides triggered a NATO bombing campaign that ended the war. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES