Russian state officials and political organizations reacted angrily to reports that Russian volunteers and mercenaries may have helped Yugoslav forces commit atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, but they did not deny the possibility.

"The purpose of the [reports of Russian volunteers] is to vent a campaign against Russians, to discredit the peacekeepers in Kosovo and keep them out," a source in the Defense Ministry said.

"It does not make sense to play up the issue because that will fuel passions, and the fragile peace that has just begun to take shape will be damaged once again," said a high-ranking government official who requested anonymity.

"It is clear that [the accusers] are engaging in mudslinging. It is clear they need to accuse Milosevic and prove his war crimes," the official said.

While Russians are free to volunteer to fight abroad, it is against Russian law for citizens to serve as mercenaries in return for payment of any kind.

Vladimir Mukhin, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said, "We certainly did not send our servicemen. Not one employee of the Defense Ministry went. But we cannot rule out the possibility that reservists and retirees took part in fighting."

"The government has nothing to do with the issue," the government official said. "On the other hand, being a soldier of fortune is outlawed by Russian law. It is a difficult legal question because it is difficult to prove whether [Russians] were volunteers or mercenaries."

The statement followed a June 22 report in Newsday that Russian volunteers had participated in killing of hundreds of ethnic Albanians, destroying towns and villages around Prizren in southern Kosovo. The article cited Albanian civilians and the Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the guerrilla band that fought against Yugoslav forces for independence for the Serb province.

The British Guardian newspaper published its own account of Russian volunteers' fighting for the Serb side on June 23.

Maria Eismont, a VremyaMN correspondent currently in Kosovo, related one account to The Russia Journal by telephone: "One Albanian told me about his relative, football player Gens Hodja. A division of Serbs came to his house and threw him out. Among the armed band was a man whom the Serbs identified as Russian, ordering him to shoot Hodja. But the man took Albanian around a corner of the house and fired in the air three times, telling Hodja to run away. Hodja is now in hospital in Germany."

James Lyon, an analyst with International Crisis Group, said in a telephone interview from Sarajevo: "I know they're there. I just don't have any evidence. I talk to Serbs who say they're there, everyone knows they're there, but it's one of those things kept under cover. They don't leave many witnesses."

"Refugees told me they had seen and heard Russians, but I've been unable to confirm it myself," said Fred Abrahams, a Human Rights Watch researcher in New York.

News agencies reported that the matter would probably be examined as part of an international investigation of war crimes against ethnic Albanians. But the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague does not give statements on its ongoing investigations, a tribunal press service representative said in a telephone interview. The tribunal only issues public indictments, she added.

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon last week said: "We certainly know that Russians participated. Russian volunteers, mercenaries, we believe, did participate with paramilitary and other Serb forces," AP reported. "I do not have verification that there were units or groups of the size that Newsday reports. But we do believe that there was some Russian participation."

The question of whether possible volunteers fought as paid soldiers of fortune might pose the only legal problem inside Russia. One motivating force for serving as mercenaries is that many soldiers have recently been discharged from the Russian military and unemployment runs high among them.

"Of course, there was some money involved. At first, some officers made official requests to send soldiers to Yugoslavia," Mukhin said. "For example, the commander of the Far Eastern military district Victor Chechevatov. Later, when Russia officially declined to take part, that subsided."

The Yugoslav Embassy refused to comment on the matter, saying that no proven incidents of Russian involvement had taken place. But a source close to the Yugoslav government said the embassy did not take part in organizing Russian volunteers and that the accusations were part of propaganda efforts on the part of Western media.

The issue might complicate relations between NATO member countries and Russia as both sides try to cooperate in peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo.

According to a plan hashed out between Russian and Western representatives, 3,600 Russian troops will join NATO's KFOR peace force. A group of 39 Russian soldiers left for Kosovo Saturday to join the approximately 200 troops already there.

Russians strongly opposed NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia this spring. Politicians loudly condemned the West as a wave of anti-Western feeling swept society. Many public figures called for actions to oppose NATO bombing.

Following the beginning of NATO's 78-day campaign in Yugoslavia in March, a number of Russian political and civic organizations said they were signing up volunteers to fight against Albanian Kosovars in Yugoslavia.

The Newsday report, citing ethnic Albanian and Serb security sources, mentioned examples of Russian involvement in Kosovo, saying about 60 Russians were ordered out of Kosovo last week by German soldiers. Their commander was an army colonel, the newspaper reported.

Newsday also reported that the Russians were organized in a single unit operating under the Special Purpose Police of the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Belgrade.

Vladimir Zhirinovsky's extremist nationalist Liberal Democratic Party took part in the recruitment of Russians to fight in Kosovo.

General Viktor Filatov, an LDPR organizer who signed up volunteers, said as many as tens of thousands signed up to fight. .

"We did not send anyone. We just wanted to check the amount of Russian patriotism.. This [reports of Russian volunteers in Kosovo] is a CIA-sanctioned campaign. Its purpose is to demonize the image of the Russian Army and to set Albanians against Russians," Filatov said.

Sergei Ushakov, a spokesman for the Russian military general prosecutor said his office has not looked into the matter because civilians who may have traveled to Yugoslavia were not part of the country's armed forces.

"But one must know concrete families, concrete organizations in order to investigate them," Ushakov said. "Being a volunteer is a private matter. As for organizations, I know there were some that sent Russian citizens to Yugoslavia. But they'll tell you, 'We just went to protect our brother Slavs,' and you also won't be able to prove anything."

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has not issued a formal denial of the accusations.

Albanian civilians and NATO peacekeepers are wary of the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Kosovo as they deploy over the next few weeks, especially in light of the recent reports of Russians fighting for Serb forces.

NATO refused Moscow's request for an independent zone, saying that would effectively lead to the partition of the province into ethnic Albanian and Serbian enclaves.

"The euphoria from the greeting is still there," The Guardian reported Russian Major Alexander Razumovsky as saying last week, speaking of the tremendous welcome local Serbs in Pristina gave Russians soldiers when they snuck into Kosovo, surprising NATO troops taking control of Pristina Airport.

"It can't get any worse," Eismont said, speaking of the ethnic Albanian relations with Russians. "There are those who say that if Russians are part of an intergated NATO force, they will not try to kill them. But of course, there are others who say they're going to shoot every Russian they see."

At least one NATO commander said he will handle Russian peacekeeping soldiers carefully, but so far Western politicians have played down any possible connections between their attitude to Russian peacekeepers and reports of Russian volunteers in Yugoslavia.

"When the Russian forces arrive as part of KFOR, we expect them to be totally fair and professional in their dealings with both Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, as they have been in Bosnia and where there have been very stalwart and successful members of the peacekeeping force," Bacon said.

Diplomats are also treading carefully. British Embassy attache Michael Haddock said of the media reports about Russian volunteers, "We have no evidence to back them up. And there is no reason to do anything at this point. It's a newspaper story."

Meanwhile, Russian officials are trying to brush the matter aside. "We do not consider this to be a serious topic that deserves discussion inasmuch as there is not one proven incident," the high-ranking government official said. "But it's no secret that citizens of various countries fought on both sides," he added.

Ekaterina Larina and Lyuba Pronina contributed to this report.