WORLD IN BRIEF : SERBIA : Milosevic Rejects Deal to Lift Sanctions

Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic dashed hopes for peace in the Balkans by refusing a deal that would have lifted punishing economic sanctions in exchange for undercutting Serb nationalists. After a weekend of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev, Milosevic turned down the plan--proposed by Russia, the United States, Britain, France and Germany--which would have lifted 2 1/2-year-old sanctions in exchange for Milosevic’s recognition of the former Yugoslav republics of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia. Milosevic’s rejection was a severe blow to those who fear the region will erupt in cataclysmic fighting this spring.