He said his dealings with his Serbian counterpart, Slobodan Milosevic, are not those of son to father or nephew to uncle, but rather like those "of brother to brother."

The general, like some Serbian counterparts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia's primary foe in the 1991-95 war, stands accused of committing atrocities during that conflict.

By the end of the week, he said, he and his Serbian counterparts were going out to restaurants together and even shared a sauna.

In July 2005 Portuguese Minister of Defense Luís Amado visited Serbia and Montenegro, where he discussed military cooperation with his Serbian counterpart.

Within minutes, the situation spiraled beyond control as the BBB could no longer be held back by the police, and soon took to the field to reach their Serbian counterparts.

The monastery church is small and lofty, on cinquefoil plan and with four drums and domes very like their Serbian counterparts.

But last week Mr. Tudjman's Croatian henchmen from Bosnia cut a deal with their Serbian counterparts at a secret meeting in Graz, Austria.

The Hungarian foreign minister, Peter Balazs, right, stamps the passport of his Serbian counterpart, Vuk Jeremic, left, at the border station in Roeszke, Hungary.

The Western intelligence agencies had held weekly meetings with their Serbian counterparts, but feared that information would leak and tip off their target.

When Bosnian Government and Bosnian Serb officials first met in the Sarajevo airport today, United Nations officials watched stunned as Bosnian Government officials said they would not even address their Serbian counterparts.