Belgrado van plan Duitsland te vragen voor hulp bij het zoeken van oorlogsmisdadigers (en)

The Serbian government is planning to request help from Germany to catch war crimes suspects Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, according to German media.

Serbian foreign minister Vuk Daskovic told the Freie Presse newspaper that prime minister Vojislav Kostunica would like to hold a meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the issue.

Belgrade's move comes amid rising tensions with the EU over the apparent Serbian failure to catch the two top fugitives and send them to the UN tribunal in The Hague.

The EU last month suspended talks with Belgrade on a so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) - a preliminary deal before possible membership - after Belgrade missed an April deadline to hand over Mr Mladic to The Hague.

Belgrade has now put its hopes on help by the German secret service, the BND, which according to Mr Draskovic is particularly successful and effective.

The two top fugitives are accused of being involved in crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

Mr Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader at the time, is suspected of being in Bosnia and Mr Mladic, his military commander, is allegedly hiding in Serbia.

But direct German involvement in the search is likely to be seen as problematic as it would make Germany, as an EU member state, partly responsible for the success of the operation.

EU leaders reiterated last week that the bloc will only resume SAA talks with Belgrade if there is "full cooperation" by the Serbians with the UN tribunal.

The tough EU stance has sparked frustration in Belgrade, with Mr Kostunica saying this week that "the policy of a permanent setting of conditions, that has been conducted for a while towards Serbia, is deeply wrong and so far produced exclusively negative effects."

Mr Kostunica instead pleaded for "partnership" and "cooperation" between the two sides.