Serb leader sees handovers 'soon'

Djindjic says war crimes suspects could be extradited as early as Tuesday

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic has predicted that war crimes suspects will be quickly arrested and extradited to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

Yugoslavia is facing the loss of around $40 million in financial aid from the U.S. as well as punitive sanctions if its fails to hand over the suspects.

Djindjic said "it can be expected that the first extraditions take place" on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Some 15 suspects indicted by the U.N. court for bloodshed in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia remain at large in Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic, including former army chief General Ratko Mladic.

But the power struggle between Djindic and Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica is apparently intensifying.

MORE STORIES Serbia moves on war crimes suspects    EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: Milosevic on trial

Kostunica, a nationalist, has opposed turning over the war crime suspects, saying Yugoslav law does not allow it. However, Djindjic's pro-Western government has issued a decree to allow the suspects to be turned over to international justice.

After months of internal wrangling, Yugoslavia's federal Cabinet agreed on Monday to start turning over war crimes suspects.

In a fierce attack, Djindjic called his rival's attitude to the U.N. tribunal "cowardly, hypocritical and irresponsible."

"The duty of the Yugoslav president is to take care of the country's international position," Djindjic said on Monday. "It is obvious that he is not doing his job."

The U.S. Congress had given Yugoslav authorities until March 31 to cooperate with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, by handing over the suspects or lose $40 million in financial assistance.

Secretary of State Powell withheld a decision Monday night on whether Yugoslavia, made up of Serbia and the smaller Montenegro, has cooperated sufficiently with the tribunal and on other issues to avert the aid freeze.

Powell's move means no U.S. assistance cheques can be written for Yugoslavia until he certifies compliance with U.S. legislation requiring Yugoslavia to have passed "democratic tests."

"He felt it was premature to make a decision at this point," one official told CNN.

Kostunica, a nationalist, who argued against the transfer of ex-President Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague, has denounced the Hague tribunal as illegal and anti-Serb.

In clear support for Djindjic that heralds the quick arrests of the suspects, the Yugoslav federal government said in a statement: "As a U.N. member state, we are obliged to fully cooperate with The Hague tribunal and have asked all state bodies for full cooperation."

Yugoslav analysts believe that Powell's delay was to give more time to Djindjic to engineer a handover of key suspects.

Djindjic knows handovers will be in the face of Yugoslav public opinion, which is why he and the Serb government are insisting Kostunica -- a popular politician in Yugoslavia -- takes the responsibility for risking losing the aid.

Predicting the arrests, Djindjic pointed out that in charge of those arrests this time would be Federal Government and the President Kostunica, shifting the responsibility towards federal bodies and the President.

Earlier in a statement to local Radio B92 PM Djindjic announced that federal Cabinet officials would hold talks on Tuesday with the President once more to get his final stand regarding the cooperation with the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal.

After that Serbian and Federal Government will decide what to do regarding the issue.

Last year's handover of Milosevic was against an almost identical ultimatum delivered by the U.S.

Kostunica told state-run TV late Monday that he supports cooperation with the U.N. court, "but with a clear law regulating such cooperation."

He said it was now up to the federal government to demand from parliament adoption of such a law "at an urgent session."

Djindjic warned that all democratic and economic reforms will be stopped if the country loses U.S. support.

-- CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott and CNN Producer Duda Djedodic in Belgrade contributed to this report.