Audronius Azubalis, Foreign Minister of Lithuania which chairs the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), welcomed "today's arrest of Ratko Mladic by the Serbian authorities."
Mladic is one of the last two people indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia that has so far evaded justice. His arrest is an important step in ensuring that all those indicted for war crimes face justice and demonstrates that there can be no impunity for war crimes, he said.
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said that the Serbian government "has shown that it takes cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal seriously and wants to contribute to the investigation of one of the most serious war crimes in Europe since 1945."
"Serbia has removed a significant obstacle on its path to EU membership," he added.
Bulgarian and Hungarian officials joined those who have welcomed the Mladic arrest.
Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state, was quoted as saying that "Mladic tried to become a conquering hero. Instead, he lived as a fugitive in obscurity and now faces years in custody. Justice works."
"It is a welcome sign that Serbian officials arrested him. An emerging democracy is helping to confront its own past," she added.
Nongovernmental organisations -- Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch -- welcomed Mladic's apprehension.
AI activist Sian Jones called for the arrest of the sole remaining Serb war crimes fugitive, Goran Hadzic.
Russia's Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said that Ratko Mladic should be put on trial as well as NATO officials responsible for the shelling in the former Yugoslavia.