By Sami Torma

HELSINKI, May 30 (Reuters) - Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo will be independent one way or the other so the United Nations should hurry up and pass a formal resolution next month, U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority is impatient for independence after eight years of U.N. stewardship, and has the backing of the United States and European Union.

But Western efforts to pass a resolution at the United Nations have so far been frustrated by Russia, a Serbian ally that has hinted it could use its veto to block independence and has called for more talks between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians.

Ahtisaari, who mediated a year of fruitless negotiations before drafting a plan outlining Kosovo's independence under EU supervision, told Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat a decision had to be made by the end of Germany's EU presidency (in June).

It was not in the interest of the European Union to let the uncertainty continue, he added.

"Otherwise it's clear the international community has failed," he was quoted as saying.

"I think Kosovo is going towards independence in any case. The options are simple: to have as organised a solution as possible, or a chaotic one."

SUMMIT IN GERMANY

EU officials say the United States and the EU are leaning towards giving Russia more time and will not press for a resolution on Kosovo before or during the Group of Eight summit in Germany next week.

The resolution would likely not be on the table so as to avoid confrontation during a summit that is already laden with hot issues such as the nuclear standoff in Iran and the unresolved conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, diplomats add.

But the United States and the EU are expected to return to the issue after the summit, and make a last effort to pass it before the end of June, as they originally promised the Kosovo Albanians.

"We are running out of days but it is not impossible," Ahtisaari told the daily.

He said it was still not clear what Russia's stance was, but he would be "amazed and disappointed" if it overturned the resolution.

"(Using a veto) would weaken the U.N.'s position," Ahtisaari said. He couldn't imagine Russia would want to suggest it approves of what happened in Kosovo in the 1990s.

The territory of 2 million people has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombed for 78 days to drive out Serb forces accused of killing 10,000 ethnic Albanians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

The West has warned of violent unrest if the Albanians see their demand for independence denied, or significantly delayed.

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