Russia today confirmed receiving a letter, written last week by Slobodan Milosevic, complaining about inadequate treatment in custody at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
The news emerged as test results on the former Serb leader's blood, taken before he was found dead on Saturday, showed traces of a medicine that negated the effect of drugs to reduce high blood pressure.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the letter dated Wednesday, March 8th asked Moscow to push the UN tribunal to let him undergo treatment in Russia for a heart condition. Mr Lavrov said the letter arrived in Moscow yesterday.
"It says that in his opinion certain methods of treatment ... had had a negative impact on his health," Mr Lavrov said. Mr Lavrov said that Moscow had been offended and alarmed by the tribunal's rejection of its earlier plea to allow Milosevic make a trip to Russia for medical treatment.
"Essentially they didn't believe Russia," Mr Lavrov said. "This can't fail to disturb us. It can't fail to alarm us that Milosevic died shortly afterward."
Milosevic was found dead in his cell in The Hague on Saturday morning. A preliminary autopsy report released last night showed the 64-year-old former Yugoslav president died of a heart attack but speculation continues over whether he might have killed himself in an attempt to thwart an impending verdict in his four-year-old trial.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
The pathologists said Milosevic died of a "myocardial infarction" that could be explained by two heart conditions. A myocardial infarction is usually caused by a blockage in one of the coronary arteries that supplies blood to the heart.
Cardiologists had warned he was at risk of a life-threatening hypertensive emergency, when surges in blood pressure can damage the heart, kidneys and central nervous system.
A spokeswoman for the UN tribunal said it was too early to say whether the heart attack might have been caused by poisoning or whether suicide could be ruled out, noting that an inquiry ordered by court president Fausto Pocar was continuing.
Mr Lavrov said that Russia did not fully trust Milosevic's post-mortem and wanted to send doctors to examine the body.
"Now they are conducting the autopsy," he said at a briefing. "In the situation when we weren't believed, we also have the right not to believe and not to trust those who are conducting these autopsy."
The blood tests were carried out on Milosevic by the UN war crimes tribunal because Milosevic's blood pressure remained high despite the drugs he was prescribed.
Groningen University toxicologist Donald Uges said the tests he conducted two weeks ago on Mr Milosevic's blood showed traces of rifampicin - a drug against leprosy and tuberculosis that would have made other medicines ineffective.
"I don't think he took his medicines for suicide - only for his trip to Moscow ... that is where his friends and family are. I think that was his last possibility to escape the Hague," Mr Uges said. "I am so sure there is no murder."
Last month, the tribunal rejected a request by Milosevic - branded the "Butcher of the Balkans" - to go to Moscow for specialist medical care. His widow, brother and son all live in Russia.
Milosevic faced a possible life sentence over charges on 66 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes involving conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo as Yugoslavia imploded in the 1990s.