Balkans: October 7, 2000

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Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is now ex-president. On October 6 Milosevic resigned in a dramatic deal to end his 13-year long rule of Yugoslavia, a Yugoslavia that shrank the longer he ran it. The resignation deal was encouraged by Russian Foreign Minister Igor S. Ivanov who held a meeting with Milosevic and now President-elect Vojislav. Kostunica. Western news sources reported that. Ivanov told. Milosevic that if he left peacefully he would not be extradited to The Hague for war crimes trials. Milosevic then announced he would "stay on" as a political opposition leader to Kostunica. Kostunica said he would accept UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo. The agreement to not hand Milosevic over for war crimes trials was a big part of the deal. On October 4, as massive civil disobedience directed at toppling the Milosevic regime spread throughout Serbia, Kostunica publicly announced he would not send Milosevic to a warcrimes court if he (Kostunica) became president.