Muslim-majority Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia on Sunday after parliament adopted a declaration stating Serbia's breakaway province "an independent and sovereign state".

"From this moment, the political position of Kosovo has changed," AFP reported the speaker of Kosovo parliament Jakup Krasniqi as saying after a declaration of independence was adopted by lawmakers through a show of hands.

"We are now an independent, free, sovereign and democratic country. Congratulations to all of you."

In response, Serbian President Boris Tadic said Serbia would never recognize the independence and "will take responsible moves and will do everything in its power to annul this arbitrary and illegally proclaimed independence of Kosovo", AFP reported.

Kosovo has been under UN rule since a NATO-led air war in 1999 was waged to stop late ex-Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in the region.

Kosovo is the sixth state carved from the former Yugoslav federation since 1991 after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kristiarto Legowo said late Sunday that Jakarta was not yet in a position to recognize Kosovo's statehood.

"We will wait to see how (the declaration) goes," he told The Jakarta Post.

The ministry said it hoped the declaration would not prompt open conflicts, particularly with Serbia, and said the failure to resolve Kosovo's issue through negotiations was deplorable.

While respecting the sovereignty of Serbia as a UN member, the ministry said it was open to see Kosovo as part of a string of typical problems faced by former Yugoslav federation provinces.

Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analyst Bantarto Bandoro said independence for Kosovo appeared to be the best resolution to end its conflict with the Serbian government.

"Kosovo was under a very authoritarian rule and was stifled with no space to grow. With this in mind, I see no reason for Indonesia not to recognize Kosovo's statehood," he said.

Nonetheless, the government should be able to explain to the public that such support did not mean the government was in favor of separatism, Bantarto said.

House of Representatives Commission I member Abdillah Toha, who deals with foreign affairs, said Indonesia should throw its weight behind Kosovo's independence, but keep it low.

"I've discussed this with fellow legislators and we shouldn't be too proactive on this issue because it involves separatism.

"We've always supported the integrity of a nation's territory, so let the Europeans deal with it," he said.

Abdillah said while he "in essence" supported the independence justified by Kosovo's history of Serbian colonization, "we have relations with Russia (and Serbia) to carefully maintain".

"If we were to vote in any United Nations Security Council's meetings on this, I think we should just abstain," he said.

The United States said Sunday it recognized that Kosovo had declared its independence and welcomed its government's commitment to implement United Nations provisions to protect ethnic minority communities.

"The United States is now reviewing the issue and discussing the matter with its European partners. We expect to issue a statement shortly," Reuters reported the State Department as saying.

But Russia, a close ally of Serbia, called for UN Security Council consultations on Sunday over Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia, a spokeswoman for Russia's UN mission said.

"Russia just called for Security Council consultations," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

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