The British newspaper said today the disclosure of British agents' identities in the media of former Yugoslavia's successor countries had weakened Britain's intelligence operations in the Balkans aimed at arresting indicted war criminals such as Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic and Ante Gotovina.
The daily said those operations upset local intelligence services, some of which it added remained in contact with the criminals accused by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Mesic said Croatian intelligence services performed well and without scandals, even though, he added, some people wanted scandals. He said he did not understand what it meant when some asked that the work of secret services be transparent.
"They must operate lawfully, they must be controlled. Control does exist and attempts are being made to improve it," Mesic said in Sokolovac near Daruvar, 100 km east of Zagreb, where he visited a newly opened school.