TIRANA - Albania insisted on Friday that all international peace-keeping troops in Kosovo had to be under a unified NATO command and said it would oppose an independent Russian element.

"Any foreign military presence in Kosovo outside the control and management of NATO would establish a premise for permanent conflicts in the region and for the division of Kosovo," Prime Minister Pandeli Majko told a news conference.

Majko said Albania welcomed Russia’s contribution to achieving a peace plan for Kosovo. "But Albania is determined to oppose any Russian unit under an independent command in Kosovo," he said.

He gave a cautious welcome to the international peace plan approved by Belgrade on Thursday, saying: "We are very close to the end of the conflict." But he added that Yugoslav forces had continued to shell positions inside Albania on Friday. "One thing is sure - with Milosevic in power, there can be no stable peace in the region," Majko said.

Foreign Minister Paskal Milo said on Thursday Albania would welcome any solution that is based on NATO’s five demands, which include a cease-fire and verifiable total pull-out of Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo, the unconditional and safe return of refugees under the protection of NATO forces and the establishment of an interim international protectorate.

Milo warned that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic could not be trusted, and said he might try to play with the technical details of the implementation of the plan or fail to implement it at all as in several cases in the past.

The leading Albanian official said an international security force to implement a solution to the conflict should be under NATO’s command, and criticised ideas launched by Russians for two separate Russian and NATO forces under separate commands in Kosovo.

Milo said "it would be wrong" to have separate forces under different commands, adding that such a move might mean the outright endorsement of the partition of Kosovo, similar to that of Germany after World War 2, which gave rise to two different states.

Presidential adviser Kristaq Hroni, considered Belgrade’s acceptance of the G8 plans "as a positive step" and warned against moves that could initiate the partition of the province.

"Much attention should be shown to avoid the idea of dividing the international peace-keeping force in Kosovo into groups as this would discourage the Kosovars’ return to their own lands," Hroni said, adding that President Rexhep Meidani supports an international protectorate in Kosovo "where NATO plays the major role in establishing a secure atmosphere."

The Albanian opposition was similarly cautious in applauding Belgrade’s agreement to the western demands.

Democratic Party (DP) deputy leader Genc Pollo said on Thursday his party is sceptical of Belgrade’s approval of the Kosovo peace plan, adding that only the practical implementation of the plan would convince Kosovar refugees to return to their homes. "I think this will be a positive development only if the Serb troops were to withdraw from Kosovo and the NATO troops could be deployed there," he said.

According to him, more attention should be given to "the verifiable actions in practice rather than the approved resolutions in principle." "We can not make comments in advance," Pollo said, adding, "We are now following the situation step by step."