[ALBSA-Info] INTERVIEW-Ex-Yugoslav PM Asks Putin to Give Milosevic Refuge/Milosevic Loses Poll, Opposition Rejects Runoff/Russia Calls for Calm, Restraint in Yugoslavia/Brother Says Milosevic no Power-hungry Monster/Serb Opposition Seeks Street Support for Poll Win

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1. INTERVIEW-Ex-Yugoslav PM Asks Putin to Give Milosevic Refuge
2. Milosevic Loses Poll, Opposition Rejects Runoff
3. Russia Calls for Calm, Restraint in Yugoslavia
4. Brother Says Milosevic no Power-hungry Monster
5. Serb Opposition Seeks Street Support for Poll Win


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#1.
INTERVIEW-Ex-Yugoslav PM Asks Putin to Give Milosevic Refuge

By Elaine Monaghan

WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Former Yugoslav prime minister Milan Panic 
hailed President Slobodan Milosevic's first-round poll defeat on Tuesday and 
urged Russia to give him temporary refuge to avoid bloodshed. 

Panic, a U.S.-based businessman defeated by Milosevic in 1992 in elections he 
said were rigged, told Reuters he was writing to Russian President Vladimir 
Putin to suggest he fly the Balkan strongman to Russia, his fellow Orthodox 
Slav ally. 

He said Milosevic was a ``cornered animal'' who would ``try anything'' after 
conceding defeat in Sunday's first round but calling a run-off election for 
Oct. 8. 

Western officials, like the Serbian opposition, say moderate nationalist 
Vojislav Kostunica won the first round vote outright and that Milosevic only 
received some of the 40.23 percent the Election Commission says he got by 
cheating. The commission said Kostunica received 48.22 percent of the vote. 

``The Russians can save the Serbs and Yugoslavs -- and Milosevic, for the 
time being,'' said Panic, who was made prime minister by his political enemy 
Milosevic but purged in a wave of nationalism five months later. 

``I'm going to be asking Mr. Putin very soon to send a plane and pick him 
up,'' he added in a telephone interview. 

``How about Siberia?'' one American official suggested on hearing of Panic's 
idea. 

Another said ironically that Moscow might serve as a transit stop -- en route 
to an international court in The Hague where Milosevic is wanted for trial 
for alleged war crimes. 

U.S. officials flatly denied a New York Times report in June that quoted 
unnamed U.S. and NATO officials as saying President Bill Clinton's 
administration was discussing the idea of an exit strategy for Milosevic with 
Western allies and Russia. 

But Panic said the immediate priority was to get Milosevic out of Yugoslavia 
``to avoid bloodshed'' -- either against him or because of his desire to stay 
in power to avoid extradition. 

Reflecting on a series of Balkan wars that have brought not only bombs but 
international sanctions down on Belgrade's head, Panic said, ``It's a very 
sweet moment to see him out. But it's a very bitter moment, what he has done 
to Serbia, and the people of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.'' 

BUSINESS INTERESTS 

Panic is chief executive of U.S. drugs firm ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., which 
has interests in Russia, and he has met Putin in the past. 

He wants to regain control of a drug-making unit that was one of Belgrade's 
most successful companies when the government took it over in a move blasted 
by the U.S. State Department as a way of avoiding paying $175 million it owed 
ICN for medicines. 

``If Milosevic leaves today, I will return tomorrow,'' he said. 

While Panic shares the West's hatred for Milosevic's regime, he opposed its 
air campaign in Yugoslavia last year. 

The United States has always insisted that Milosevic belongs only at the U.N. 
court in The Hague for trial for alleged war crimes by his forces in Kosovo. 

There was no way of knowing for sure whether Panic's idea would be taken up 
or even considered seriously by either side. 

Milosevic's brother, Yugoslavia's ambassador in Russia, said earlier on 
Tuesday that his brother was no monster and that he would likely stay in his 
homeland no matter what. 


#2.
Milosevic Loses Poll, Opposition Rejects Runoff

By Beti Bilandzic
  
BELGRADE, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic admitted 
on Tuesday he had lost crucial elections and called a runoff vote, but the 
opposition rejected a second poll and insisted their candidate had won 
outright. 

Milosevic's admission of defeat came in a surprise announcement by the state 
Election Commission carried on the main evening television news. 

The Commission said opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica had secured 48.22 
percent of the vote -- just short of the 50 percent that would have ensured 
him outright victory -- against Milosevic's 40.23 percent in Sunday's 
presidential poll. 

Kostunica immediately rejected participation in a runoff vote with Milosevic, 
which the state news agency Tanjug said would be held on October 8. 

``The Socialists are trying to bargain their way into a second round for 
Slobodan Milosevic. It is of course an offer that can and must be refused,'' 
Kostunica said in a written statement carried by the Beta news agency. 

He called the Commission's decision an insult to all who voted and accused 
Milosevic of trying to divide his backers. 

``Milosevic's regime is trying to buy some time and try to provoke 
disturbance among the citizens and quarrels within the democratic 
opposition,'' he said. 

RESULT SLAMMED BY SERB INDEPENDENT MONITORS 

The result, the greatest setback Milosevic has faced in 13 years of power, 
was immediately denounced by independent Serb monitors as a fabrication. 

Kostunica's backers say he won at least 54 percent of the poll. They had 
feared Milosevic would seek a runoff after realising he could not reverse the 
outcome of the first round. 

``This is pure fabrication by the Federal Electoral Commission,'' said Marko 
Blagojevic, spokesman for the independent CESID monitoring service. 

The United States said the government's failure to award victory to the 
opposition was ``highly suspect.'' 

``The failure to award a first-round victory for the opposition is highly 
suspect, given the other credible reports that came out of the polling,'' 
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters. 

Britain said it was clear Milosevic had lost and urged him to hand over power 
peacefully. 

Opposition leader Zoran Djindjic said the government-run Commission had 
stolen 400,000 votes from Kostunica and given 200,000 votes to Milosevic. 

``Tonight, we will request their voting records and compare them with ours, 
one by one if necessary,'' said Djindjic. 

CELEBRATIONS BECOME PROTEST 

Election victory rallies became protests in several Serbian towns after 
opposition supporters heard of the government move. Some 20,000 gathered in 
the towns of Novi Sad and Cacak to back Kostunica and his call for his 
triumph to be recognised. 

Support for the opposition's rejection of a second round is likely to be 
tested at a large protest rally called for the centre of Belgrade on 
Wednesday evening. 

A Western diplomat said a boycott of the second round could play into 
Milosevic's hands by allowing him to accuse the opposition of hindering the 
democratic process. 

The announcement from the Commission ended two days of speculation over how 
Milosevic would respond to growing evidence of his defeat, which appeared to 
have taken him by surprise. 

Western pressure and the size of Kostunica's triumph seems to have dissuaded 
the government from taking the drastic measures, including violence, that 
many had feared. 

Analysts said the recourse to a second round of voting was a typical 
Milosevic manoeuvre, buying time in which to try to reinforce his grip on 
power. 

``He's a master of using time,'' said one Western diplomat in the region, 
speaking before the Tuesday evening announcement. 

``It would give him at least another 10 to 12 days to figure out what to do 
and that could include all sorts of things like trying to drive wedges among 
the opposition, trying to bribe some of them off, whatever else.'' 

Milosevic may also try to provoke some crisis that would indefinitely 
postpone the second round of voting, he added. 

Pro-Western politicians in Montenegro, Serbia's small sister republic in the 
Yugoslav federation, said the runoff proposal was a trick the opposition must 
be careful to avoid. 

``The opposition would be making a huge, huge mistake by accepting,'' deputy 
Prime Minister Dragisa Burzan told Reuters. 

WESTERN PRESSURE 

Western leaders have kept up the pressure on Milosevic to concede defeat ever 
since results started to come. 

U.S. President Bill Clinton said Milosevic, indicted for war crimes by a 
United Nations tribunal, appeared to have ``lost the last vestige of 
legitimacy'' and suggested sanctions could be lifted ``if the will of the 
people is respected.'' 

France, which currently holds the rotating European Union presidency, has 
also said the opposition claim of victory opened the door to a lifting of 
sanctions. 

Britain said Milosevic should be aware of the West's military might when 
thinking of using force to stay in power. 

But diplomats were sceptical there was real support for military action 
against Milosevic if he staged a violent clampdown. In Belgrade, opposition 
figures said Cook's words could play into the hands of the government. 

During the election campaign, Milosevic branded the opposition as traitors 
and stooges of the West. 


#3.
Russia Calls for Calm, Restraint in Yugoslavia

MOSCOW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Russia appealed on Tuesday for calm in Yugoslavia 
after Sunday's presidential vote, in which both incumbent Slobodan 
Milosevic's party and his opponents have claimed victory, and said the poll 
could be viewed as fair. 

``The first round of the presidential election has already demonstrated the 
considerable democratic potential in Yugoslav society. Now it is vital to 
preserve civil peace and stability in the country,'' the Foreign Ministry 
said in a statement. 

``It is also important that all political forces refrain from any kind of 
confrontation,'' it said. 

Gennady Seleznyov, the speaker of Russia's State Duma lower house of 
parliament, criticised Western reaction to the poll. Russia has traditionally 
had close ties to Yugoslavia and has acted as an intermediary between 
Belgrade and Western states. 

``This is the most blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state, 
in fact it is blackmail and a provocation -- to stir up people who took to 
Belgrade's streets today in an agitated state,'' Seleznyov, a moderate 
Communist, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. 

Several Western leaders have said it appears that Milosevic's main opponent, 
Vojislav Kostunica, was the winner. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said 
Milosevic should not forget that NATO has significant military capability 
close to Serbia. 

Official election results are to be released on Thursday. 

The Foreign Ministry statement reiterated Moscow's belief that the 
international isolation of Yugoslavia should end and sanctions be lifted 
``regardless of who becomes the legally elected president.'' 

It added that Russian election observers had played an active role, 
monitoring the voting at 150 polling stations. 

``(But) their evaluations would carry more weight if representatives of the 
European Union, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and 
other international organisations had been allowed to monitor the election,'' 
the statement said. 

The Yugoslav opposition said that with returns available from 97.5 percent of 
polling stations, Kostunica had won 54.66 of votes and Milosevic had 35.01 
percent. 


#4.
Brother Says Milosevic no Power-hungry Monster

MOSCOW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The brother of President Slobodan Milosevic said 
on Tuesday the Yugoslav leader was not a monster, bent on hanging on to power 
at all costs. 

Borislav Milosevic, Yugoslavia's ambassador to Russia, also said his brother 
was likely to stay in his own country whenever he retired from politics, 
despite pressure from the West. 

``The president of Yugoslavia will act according to the constitution,'' 
Borislav told Ekho Moskvy radio. ``If a situation arises...where he has to 
leave office, he will leave.'' 

``Hang on to power by any means? Why? Is he a monster? I do not see such an 
outcome,'' he added. 

The West has already said Milosevic lost Sunday's presidential election and 
has urged him not to rig the results. 

The Yugoslav election commission has yet to announce official results. Both 
Milosevic's supporters and those of opponent Vojislav Kostunica have already 
declared victory. 

Milosevic told the radio the result would be announced on Wednesday evening, 
although the Federal Election Commission had earlier said in Belgrade it 
would not come until Thursday. 

He rejected Western accusations that the authorities were planning to falsify 
the outcome and said the delay in announcing the final tally was due to a 
lack of modern computer technology. 

Milosevic said his brother was not worried about possibly having to leave 
Yugoslavia at the end of his political career and saw a cosy future for a man 
who is an indicted war criminal. 

``When he reaches his pension I think Slobodan Milosevic will stay in his own 
country, with his grandchildren, with his children. Why should he leave his 
homeland?'' 


#5.
Serb Opposition Seeks Street Support for Poll Win

By Beti Bilandzic

BELGRADE, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The Yugoslav opposition was urging people into 
the streets on Wednesday to back its claim to outright victory in elections 
and deny President Slobodan Milosevic a second round of voting, after he lost 
the first. 

The opposition party bloc insisted that their candidate Vojislav Kostunica 
had won Sunday's crucial presidential elections with at least 54 percent of 
the vote. 

It rejected an order by the state Electoral Commission for a runoff vote and 
called a rally in front of Belgrade's federal parliament on Wednesday evening 
to declare victory. 

The rally also looks likely to become a protest against the official election 
results putting Kostunica ahead of Milosevic with around 48 percent of the 
vote -- just short of the 50 percent needed for outright victory. 

However opposition leaders said they would give the Electoral Commission a 
chance to back down. 

``The rallies planned for tomorrow are going ahead and depending on the final 
ruling of the commission we will either have a celebration or a protest,'' 
said the head of the opposition Democratic Party, Zoran Djindjic. 

Milosevic's admission that he was behind Kostunica, after three days of 
silence, came in a surprise announcement on Wednesday by the Election 
Commission -- which had promised official results on Thursday -- that 
Kostunica had won 48.22 percent against Milosevic's 40.23 percent. 

DEFEAT IS BIGGEST SETBACK FOR MILOSEVIC IN 13 YEARS 

The result was the greatest setback Milosevic has absorbed in 13 years in 
power during which Yugoslavia has suffered the ravages of ethnic wars, 
political isolation and international economic and diplomatic sanctions. 

Kostunica immediately rejected participation in a runoff vote with Milosevic, 
which the state news agency Tanjug said would be held on October 8. 

``The Socialists are trying to bargain their way into a second round for 
Slobodan Milosevic. It is of course an offer that can and must be refused,'' 
Kostunica said in a written statement carried by the independent Serbian news 
agency Beta. 

He called the Commission's decision an insult to all who voted and accused 
Milosevic of trying to divide his backers. 

``Milosevic's regime is trying to buy some time and trying to provoke 
disturbance among the citizens and quarrels within the democratic 
opposition,'' he said. 

Kostunica's stance won backing from the West, which had warned Milosevic, 
indicted by the U.N. tribunal in the Hague as a suspected war criminal, not 
to try to rig the vote. 

In Washington, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said the Belgrade 
government's failure to award victory to the opposition ``is highly suspect, 
given the other credible reports that came out of the polling.'' 

Britain said it was clear Milosevic had lost and urged him to hand over power 
peacefully. 

Even Serbia's sister republic Montenegro, which has a pro-Western leadership, 
warned that Milosevic's runoff proposal was a trick the opposition must be 
careful to avoid. 

``The opposition would be making a huge, huge mistake by accepting,'' deputy 
Prime Minister Dragisa Burzan told Reuters. 

POLL BOYCOTT COULD HELP MILOSEVIC, DIPLOMAT SAYS 

But a Western diplomat in Belgrade said a boycott of the second round could 
play into Milosevic's hands by allowing him to accuse the opposition of 
hindering the democratic process. 

Milosevic may also try to provoke some crisis that would indefinitely 
postpone the second round of voting, he added. 

Opposition celebrations turned into protests in several towns across Serbia, 
Yugoslavia's main republic, on Tuesday after the Election Commission 
published its results. 

More than 5,000 opposition supporters gathered at a central square in the 
northern city of Novi Sad, while in the central town of Cacak, some 15,000 
people attended another rally called before the electoral commission 
announcement. 

``Serbian citizens will not allow someone to erase their votes,'' the head of 
the Cacak local government, Milan Kandic, told the crowd. Protests were also 
held in other towns, such as Jagodina and Cuprija, Beta reported. 

It was the third day of rallies called to celebrate what opposition leaders 
said was a clear presidential victory for Kostunica over the embattled 
Yugoslav leader, whom they blame for widespread poverty and growing 
international ostracism. 

Amid the opposition euphoria, some analysts said it was not yet clear whether 
Kostunica could mobilise the masses to pour into the streets. 

Ljubica Markovic, editor-in-chief of Beta, said on Wednesday an opposition 
rally the previous evening had not drawn as many people as expected, 
``because it seems as if victory is not certain. There is still nothing 
really to celebrate.''