Milosevic’s Wife Headed for Moscow

The wife of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic left Belgrade for Moscow on Friday, an eyewitness and Yugoslav media said.

“Mirjana Markovic left for Moscow accompanied by two of her bodyguards,” Belgrade airport hostess Andrijana Savic told Serbian state television.

“We escorted her to Gate B2, from where she boarded the flight for Moscow,” she said.

Savic said that Markovic’s name was on the ticket and that she had an open return date.

The independent Beta news agency, quoting a police source, said Markovic boarded a regular Aeroflot flight from Belgrade, the Yugoslav and Serbian capital, after waiting in the airport’s VIP hall.

Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic said earlier Friday that he had no knowledge of Markovic traveling to Moscow.

“Mirjana Markovic is a deputy of the federal parliament. Her movements are not restricted,” Zivkovic told reporters.

Staffers at the Yugoslav Embassy in Moscow said they did not know anything about Markovic’s visit.

Markovic--an influential figure when her husband was in power--heads the neo-Communist Yugoslav Left party, which had been a junior coalition partner to Milosevic’s Socialists in the former government.

After Milosevic was ousted Oct. 5 in a popular revolt, the couple’s son, Marko, reportedly left for Moscow with his wife and son, but their whereabouts remain unknown.

The ex-president’s brother, Borislav, who was Yugoslavia’s ambassador to Russia, was one of 17 envoys recalled by Belgrade’s new reformist authorities.

He bade goodbye to Moscow on Thursday at a lavish farewell reception attended by a host of diplomats and government officials.

A senior official of Markovic’s party, Ljubisa Ristic, told Belgrade-based B-92 radio that he knew nothing about her trip to Moscow but added that he was sure she would attend a party meeting scheduled for Monday.

“Anyway, we have the meeting of the [party] directorate set for Monday, so even if Mrs. Markovic left today, she will surely be here Monday,” Ristic said.