The Kosovo daily Lajm left four pages of its morning edition blank on Wednesday, saying it was told not to publish the text of a confidential United Nations plan for Serbia's breakaway province.
Reuters has seen a copy of the document the newspaper had planned to print and can confirm, as Western diplomats have already said, that it contains no reference to Serbian sovereignty or to independence.
It does, however, include provisions that diplomats say would - if adopted by the UN Security Council - open the door to a declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian majority and recognition by individual states.
Serbia categorically rejects independence. It is offering "substantial autonomy" to Kosovo's Albanian majority, insisting it must preserve what a senior Serb official this week called a "membrane of Serbian sovereignty".
Under the plan drawn up by a UN mediator, however, Kosovo would have its own "national" symbols, including a flag and anthem reflecting its multiethnic character.
Lajm said it had received "suggestions from different circles" that it would not be beneficial to Kosovo to disclose the plan two days before it is officially handed over by the UN envoy, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who is due in Belgrade and Pristina on Friday. Political sources say leaders on both sides have already seen the plan. Ahtisaari's spokesman declined comment.
Reuters, citing diplomatic sources, published details of the plan last week, including proposals that Kosovo may seek membership of international organisations. This could include the UN, World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Senior newspaper sources noted that Kosovo's interim government has been under pressure from Western powers to maintain diplomatic confidentiality during the process and would be cast in a poor light by an obvious leak of the plan.
It is almost eight years since Nato bombed Serbia for 11 weeks to drive out forces under late leader Slobodan Milosevic, whose 1998-99 war against separatist guerrillas killed some 10,000 Albanians.
The West sees no prospect of forcing Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority back into the arms of Belgrade. Russia has expressed scepticism about the Ahtisaari plan, and has asked for more time before it goes to the UN Security Council.
The document seen in Pristina provides for creation of a professional and multiethnic "Kosovo Security Force" with a lightly-armed component and a civilian body to control it.
Kosovo would have its own "national" symbols, including a flag and anthem reflecting its multiethnic character instead of the Albanian double-headed eagle which it currently uses. It would also have control over borders - a red line for Serbia which says its territorial integrity is inviolable.
Ahtisaari's plan will not meet all Albanian aspirations. It provides for creation of an international overseer with powers of veto, and deployment of a European Union police mission. Reuters has not seen annexes to the document. Diplomats say they grant Serb municipalities considerable self-government and financial and other links to Belgrade.
Senior UN and Albanian officials in the province say the Albanian majority may interpret these provisions as adding up to Serb autonomy under the wing of Belgrade. "We know it is a positive proposal, but not in all aspects," Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku told reporters on Wednesday.