Deputy Russian Defense Minister Nikolai Kormiltsev said earlier agreements stipulated that local authorities were responsible for paying for the electricity used by the peacekeepers.

"According to agreements, responsibility for paying for electricity used by peacekeepers, including those from Russia, lies with the local authorities," Kormiltsev told the Interfax-AVN military news agency.

Last week the last Russian peacekeepers departed Kosovo, ending their four-year mission in the troubled Serbian province.

The troops however did not pay their outstanding bill for services since they came to the province in June 1999, a spokeswoman for Kosovo electrical company (KEK), told AFP on Tuesday.

Kosovo's energy company is supervised by the UN mission (UNMIK) here and still faces constant problems in supplying the province with electricity, mainly due to outdated equipment.

"They owe money, they need to pay, they will be pursued for that payment," Simon Haselock, spokesman for UNMIK, said.

Some 650 Russian soldiers served as part of the NATO-led KFOR mission in Kosovo and were largely in charge of protecting areas inhabited by minority Serbs in the mainly Albanian-populated province.

KFOR however shrugged off responsibility for the debt, saying it was a matter to be dealt with by the Russian authorities.

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