My Volunteers And His Commandos

Seselj: Milosevic is certainly mixed up in it. I have confidential information that Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic consulted with him before deciding to deport me. The Montenegrin Government sat up all night debating the issue.

VREME: Your clash with the Serbian President is getting worse. How do you think it will end?

Seselj: Milosevic will certainly fall. He made a fundamental mistake at the start of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He should not have got involved after the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) withdrew. If he hadn't wished to show his influence over the Bosnian Serbs so much, there wouldn't have been any sanctions or blackmail. That is why I now expect Yugoslav National Bank (NBJ) Governor Dragoslav Avramovic's program to fail, and we'll have the hottest autumn so far.

VREME: Tell us more of how ``Milosevic went to war.''

Seselj: All the moves he made since 1988 pointed in that direction. That's why we, the nation, followed him. And finally, I, too, took part in the events in Vojvodina when the then leadership was being toppled. I know that he organized it all, including a meeting with municipality presidents and that phrase: `If we don't know how to work, we do know how to fight'. He thinks of changing his policy now by 180 degrees, and pretending that nothing ever happened. But, he'll have to face the consequences. The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) now has the biggest problem. Most of the Socialists followed him because he was a nationalist. And that's what he was, up till the Vance-Owen plan.

VREME: At that time you used to see him regularly...

Seselj: We even planned some operations together, and strategy...

VREME: Which operations?

Seselj: I wouldn't like to talk about that now. He was an optimist and our volunteers went into actions together with his commandos. Naturally there were differences even then---over entering Dubrovnik and Osijek and Western Slavonija. I wanted us to take these cities. Dubrovnik would have fallen in one hour, while Osijek had already been evacuated, but I think he started being a bit afraid back then. I believed that Western Slavonija could easily be defended, the Ustashi didn't want to attack it. But he did the same thing there as in Maslenica later. He made a deal with Tudjman.

VREME: It is claimed that SRS behavior in the Serbian and Montenegrin Assemblies was the result of your wish to help Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic?

Seselj: That is one reason, but not the only. To go directly against Milosevic, in order that Karadzic might have an easier time. Basically it was a struggle for our national interests and a battle against crime.

VREME: Speaking of crime, it exists in the Bosnian Serb Republic too?

Seselj: Yes, but most of it has its roots in Belgrade. Bosnian Serb police minister Mica Stanisic is directly linked to Milosevic and he pins criminal scandals on ministers who are opposed to the latest peace plan. At the same time, and with his help, Milosevic's police organized the expulsion of Muslims from Bijeljina, Muslims, who for the past two years have been fighting in the Bosnian Serb Army---in order that this might be ascribed to Radovan Karadzic. I've already said that the League of Communists---Movement for Yugoslavia (SK-PJ) organized the notorious kidnapping of the Muslims from the train in Strpci...

VREME: Do you anything more about that?

Seselj: I know that a lot of people were involved, that there were seven military trucks, that all the Muslims were killed immediately and that SK-PJ President at the time Stevan Mirkovic had to leave the party because he was on the verge of discovering who stood behind it all.

VREME: You are also accused of war crimes?

Seselj: They've tried, but they have no evidence.

VREME: Do you know of any war crimes which could be linked to Milosevic?

Seselj: I do, and there'll be time to talk about them.