NATO leaders said that the presence of KFOR will be maintained in Kosovo after any status settlement. The EU will establish a European Security and Defense Policy Rule of Law mission to focus on the policing and justice sectors. As of early July 2007 the draft resolution, backed by the United States, the United Kingdom and other European members of the United Nations Security Council, was rewritten four times to try to accommodate Russian concerns, and despite talks between the Presidents of Russia and the United States. Russia stated that it would not support any resolution which was not acceptable to both parties. Representatives of the states backing independence expressed hope that agreement can be found amongst the Security Council. One Western diplomat, quoted by a British newspaper, offered an opinion on the state of negotiations: "I wouldn’t say it was game, set and match to the Russians but it is game and set". Whilst the draft resolution on Kosovo's status had yet to be endorsed by the Security Council, senior US officials had been suggesting that an agreement might be reached by 2008. The US assistant secretary of state for European affairs told delegates at a NATO conference in Croatia that he hoped that Kosovo's future could be resolved in the months leading up to the alliance's next summit meeting in Romania in April of that year. Were the draft resolution to fail, observers had been speculating that fresh talks between the parties might follow. On Monday, 16 July 2007, after many weeks of discussions at the Security Council, Russia rejected a fifth draft of a Security Council resolution based on the Ahtisaari proposals. British and European Union officials suggested on 17 July 2007 that a final draft would be presented 'within days' in an effort to secure Russian support. European Union foreign policy chief proposed new talks between Belgrade and Kosovo Albanians if this final draft failed, lasting for a period of four months and under the guidance of the Contact Group of leading nations. Concerns remain that a failure to secure a resolution favourable to Kosovo Albanian opinion might lead to violence in Kosovo, including in the period up to a possible election in November 2007. Kosovo newspaper Zeri suggested, Reuters reported, that Contact Group nations might be considering an international conference on Kosovo in September in Paris. The United States, United Kingdom and other European members