Serbia is doing everything in its power to bring war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic to justice, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today, as the EU put more pressure on Belgrade to meet its demands.
Serbia does not however expect to hand Mladic (63) over to the UN court in The Hague in the next few days despite persistent speculation that one of the Balkans' top war crimes suspects is about to be arrested.
The European Union has made repeated demands for Mladic, who is believed to have enjoyed high-level protection since his indictment for genocide in 1995, to be brought in before Serbia can expect closer links with the EU.
EU member states will warn Serbia on Monday that talks on closer ties will be seriously affected if Mladic is not arrested, diplomats in Brussels said, in a warning that Belgrade must meet its demands.
Draft conclusions for a meeting of EU foreign ministers' in Brussels on Monday say talks between the EU and Serbia will be "disrupted" if Belgrade does not cooperate fully with the UN war crimes tribunal.
Mr Kostunica issued a statement saying Serbia was "doing everything in its power" to bring Mladic to justice. He would do whatever was necessary to take Serbia into the European Union.
"Trust, at this point, can deliver much better results than any other approach," he said. "There is no doubt it is in the government's best interests to fulfil all our international obligations. We would be more than happy had they been fulfilled yesterday."
Mladic is indicted for the siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Most Serbs see him as an honorable soldier, but increasingly see his handover as a necessary sacrifice.
About 5,000 supporters of the ultranationalist Radical Party rallied in the capital today voicing support for Mladic and for the former army chief's political boss Radovan Karadzic, also indicted for war crimes.
Belgrade has doggedly denied an avalanche of media reports that Mladic is under arrest or negotiating surrender terms.
Some Serbian newspapers say he is holed up in a Belgrade apartment, under pressure to give himself up, or is sick, or is a suicide risk. None of these reports has been confirmed.