Shala told the newspaper that Pristina would inform the troika that Kosovo's independence was not negotiable, that its borders were unchangeable, and that UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari's plan, which envisages internationally monitored independence, could not be changed.
Those are the positions the Kosovo Assembly established last week as the basis for resuming the Pristina-Belgrade negotiations on Kosovo's status to be led by a Contact Group troika, said Shala.
Regarding announcements that the negotiations might yield proposals on Kosovo's division or possible confederation, he described them as speculation.
According to Albanian language newspaper Zeri, the troika is due to meet representatives of the Contact Group (US, Russia, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy) in London on Thursday.
The troika (Frank Wizner of the US, Wolfgang Ischinger of the EU, Alexandar Bocan-Harchenko of Russia) will get the latest instructions before visiting Pristina and Belgrade later this week, said Zeri.
On Sunday, Belgrade's Blic newspaper quoted Stability Pact for Southeast Europe official Goran Svilanovic as saying that the division of Kosovo was approaching.
He said the division was the Serbian government's plan B in case the Pristina-Belgrade negotiations failed.
"The Serbian government is aware that even if Kosovo proclaims independence, and even if the EU recognises it, then we have actually divided Kosovo, because the odds are nil of Kosovo's north integrating with the rest at any moment."
Asked if the division of Kosovo was possible and if there were hints that the international community could agree to it, Svilanovic said that "everything Belgrade and Pristina agree, and sign, is in keeping with the Helsinki final act, division included".
"The Serbian government will not mention it, because the moment it mentions something like that it compromises its negotiating position on Serbia's integrity, so if it happens, the idea will have to come from others, perhaps at some moment even from Kosovo Albanians," said Svilanovic.
Regarding Kosovo's final fate and the deadline for the definition of its status, he said "there will be no final decisions on the status until the election of a new administration in Washington in 2008".
He went on to say that "even after the additional negotiations, Kosovo's ties to Serbia will not be stronger but weaker and weaker and so until the end. And in that process the north will stay where it is, and that is direct and absolute connection to Serbia in every sense, regardless of the legal definition of the status".