Belgrade - Around 20,000 Kosovan Serbs have gone for several days without electricity, in a dispute over payments with their supplier, it was reported Saturday.

According to the "Press" newspaper in Belgrade, the Serbian authorities have ordered the Serb minority in Kosovo not to pay their bills to their Albanian electricity company.

The Belgrade daily cited unnamed Serbian Kosovans as saying they now felt "betrayed" by Belgrade's advice not to pay their bills, after their electricity supply was cut off.

Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia last year, has a 2 million strong ethnic Albanian Kosovan population with a Serb Kosovan minority of
100,000, largely in the north.

Kosovo's independence is rejected by both Serbia and Russia, and not all EU member states have recognised it.

Serbia has a long-running but largely non-violent campaign to disrupt Kosovo's autonomy, from refusing to recognise elections to the recent non-payment protest. (dpa)