BELGRADE (AFP) - Vojislav Kostunica took office as Yugoslavia's first popularly elected president late Saturday, pledging to hold together the Yugoslav federation and closing the curtain on 13 years of iron rule by Slobodan Milosevic.

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"This is a big historic moment for the country we live in, for Serbia and Montenegro," Kostunica said in an address following his inauguration.

The 56-year-old lawyer was a relative political newcomer before his September 24th elections win, the first time Yugoslav voters elected their president by direct vote.

Kostunica, who was swept to power on the crest of a popular uprising, took the presidential oath of office shortly after 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) before a joint session of parliament, where a standing ovation and loud cheers from deputies greeted him.

The new Yugoslav president promised to respect the constitution, and to "protect the sovereignty, independence and integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."

"My political belief has always been that without a democratic way, there is no happiness and development," Kostunica said.

The ceremony had been delayed for nearly four hours due to discrepancies over the allocation of seats for the U.N.-administered Yugoslav province of Kosovo in the newly elected legislature.

"This democratic way is impossible if people who have differences can not communicate, to act in society even if they disagree," he added.

"This is the moment when ... after a transition of power, joined in a parliament are people with different political beliefs, but there should be something which is above this - the well-being of our state, our big and beautiful Yugoslavia."

But Kostunica warned against "new temptations after this historic moment," in a clear reference to the independence ambitions of Montenegro, Serbia's junior partner in the Yugoslav federation.

"We will make the joint community between Serbia and Montenegro stronger than ever," the president vowed.

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, who had boycotted the September 24th polls, did not attend the inauguration ceremony, held in a Belgrade convention center.

In attendance were Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, who arrived in Belgrade earlier Saturday, and his Norwegian counterpart Thorbjorn Jagland. Both held talks with Kostunica earlier in the day.

The first dividend of Kostunica's election is expected Monday when EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday are expected to lift sanctions against the crippled Yugoslav economy.

Kostunica has been invited to attend the EU summit next week in the French resort town of Biarritz.

The swearing-in ceremony had to be moved after the parliament building was ransacked during Thursday's unprecedented popular uprising, which came after two chaotic weeks during which Milosevic desperately clung to power.

Using his allies on the electoral commission and on the constitutional court, he attempted to keep Kostunica from claiming an outright victory.

Only after hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets of Belgrade on Thursday, demanding that Milosevic step down, did the Yugoslav strongman finally concede defeat, in a speech broadcast late Friday.

Thousands poured into the streets of Belgrade minutes after Milosevic's televised capitulation, joining tens of thousands of opposition supporters who had gathered earlier as victory became assured for Kostunica.

The last nail in Milosevic's political coffin was hammered in when Russia - Belgrade's last major ally - publicly recognized Kostunica as the new leader.

Kostunica's support came not only from the fractious Serbian political scene and influential intellectuals, but also from farmers, students and workers.

And his popularity, his supporters say, was boosted by the fact that he is untainted by corruption scandals and has never been allied with Milosevic.

Western leaders did not wait for Milosevic to concede defeat late Friday, embracing Kostunica earlier in the day as the man to bring Yugoslavia into the international fold.

But he cannot easily be viewed as a Western puppet, as Milosevic's allies often portray opposition leaders, because he condemned the 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia and shows open hostility to the West's punishing sanctions against Belgrade.

Kostunica is also hostile to the U.N.-backed International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which he has described as a "monstrous institution," and has blasted its indictment of Milosevic for war crimes as "despicable and counterproductive."

Kostunica insists that Milosevic's extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal "is not a priority".

Milosevic himself made clear Friday that he wanted to maintain a political role for himself, a condition Western leaders said would be intolerable.

U.S. President Bill Clinton warned Friday against leaving the wily Milosevic loose on the Yugoslav political scene, saying it would be "a terrible mistake."