Serbia's pro-Western government is just as bad as nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic in its relations with its former province of Kosovo, the independent nation's prime minister said on Tuesday.

Serbia says it will never recognize the independence of its former breakaway province and will do everything to stop its membership in international organizations.

Kosovo's Albanian majority backed by the Western countries declared independence nine years after NATO bombed Serb forces to halt ethnic cleansing in a two-year counter-insurgency war.

"In its relations with Kosovo today's Belgrade has not changed anything from Milosevic," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told Reuters ahead of Kosovo's first anniversary of declaring independence.

"Serbia, by attempting to harm the integrity of Kosovo, definitely is following Milosevic's mentality," he said.

"Serbia cannot follow two parallels, trying to be a pro-Western country and threatening the sovereignty of another country," said Thaci, who commanded a guerrilla army that battled Serb forces in 1998-99.

"Serbia's face in Kosovo is genocide. Serbia came here a century ago by violence, remained here violently, and left Kosovo by committing genocide," he said.

Serbia's president and prime minister declined to comment when asked about Thaci's comments in the interview.