I repeated many times that to my knowledge that is not true, Ratko Mladic is not in Yugoslavia, and that for sure he is not protected by Yugoslavia

Vojislav Kostunica

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Kostunica also said he did not know the whereabouts of wanted war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic.

The Yugoslav authorities have been called upon to apprehend and transfer all indicted war crimes suspects to the tribunal - as happened with the former Yugoslav leader, Slobodan Milosevic.

Mr Kostunica's remarks came at the end of a two-day visit to London during which the British Government urged Belgrade to work more closely with the tribunal.

Disagreement

Mr Kostunica made it clear there were some disagreements between the two sides, and these related primarily to Belgrade's lack of co-operation with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Ratko Mladic is still at large

When asked about Mr Mladic, Mr Kostunica told the BBC the wanted war crimes suspect was not in Yugoslavia and was not being protected by the Yugoslav army. Nor was the other wanted suspect, Radovan Karadzic.

When asked if he would hand the two suspects over if he knew where they were, he said a law on co-operation with The Hague would make matters easier.

"We have asked for more understanding, more patience in the efforts of our government to come to a legal basis for co-operation with The Hague tribunal. Yugoslavia needs really time and patience," he said.

Timetable

As for a timetable on how long this would take, Mr Kostunica said he was sure a draft law would be submitted before the end of the year - either to the Yugoslav parliament or to the assembly of Serbia, the larger of Yugoslavia's two republics.

The uncertainty about which body would ultimately deal with this legislation stems from the failure of earlier attempts to push through a law in the Yugoslav parliament.

But Serbia's politicians may not necessarily want to shoulder the responsibility for the potentially unpopular task of extraditing war crimes suspects, says the BBC's south-east Europe analyst, Gabriel Partos.

Pressure is also likely to increase on Belgrade from the United States Congress, which has set a deadline at the end of March for Yugoslavia to give further proof of its willingness to co-operate with the tribunal.

Until that happens, substantial US aid to Belgrade will be cut off.