The information published by the weekly is completely false, the head of the Serbian government's media office, Srdjan Djuric, told the Beta news agency today.
"The issue of cooperation with the Hague tribunal is too important for our country to be the subject of sensationalist speculation," Djuric said.
Quoting an anonymous source, the "Evropa" weekly said that three sides were involved in negotiations with the war-time Bosnian Serb army commander - the office of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, people close to General Ratko Mladic, and the Russian intelligence. The weekly also reported that the outcome of the negotiations could be known in ten days.
According to the daily, Mladic has demanded financial security for his family and appropriate health care in The Hague because his condition is 'very bad', which the daily said was crucial for his agreeing to negotiations.
The daily also brings contradictory information on Mladic's whereabouts - it first claims that Kostunica's office has been monitoring Mladic's movements with a delay of several days and that intelligence information shows that a month and a half ago Mladic was in Novi Sad, from where he went to Presevo in Kosovo, and then crossed over to Macedonia. One of the paper's sources mentions the possibility of Mladic being in Russia at the moment.
In recent months the authorities in Belgrade have stated they are aware that Mladic's arrest and transfer to The Hague is one of the conditions for the country's integration into European institutions.
Speaking at a seminar on the military reform and integration with NATO several days ago, Serbia and Montenegro's Defence Minister Prvoslav Davinic said he was confident that the problem of Ratko Mladic would be solved in the next few months and that Serbia and Montenegro would join NATO's Partnership for Peace programme by the end of the year.