Russia gave asylum to Milosevics

Mirjana Markovic and her son face cigarette smuggling charges

Russia granted refugee status to the wife and son of the late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, the country's immigration service has admitted.

The two were given the status in March 2005, Russian officials said.

Marko Milosevic left for Russia in 2000 after his father resigned. His mother Mirjana Markovic followed in 2003 when she came under investigation.

Both are the subject of international arrest warrants issued by Serbia for charges including alleged fraud.

One Serbian probe was set up to investigate allegations that they led an international cigarette smuggling ring.

'Under threat'

Mirjana Markovic was considered a power behind the scenes during her husband's rule in the 1990s.

The Russian immigration service said she and her son were granted refugee status because of the threat to their lives in Serbia.

Slobodan Milosevic died in his cell at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague in March 2006, where he was facing war crimes charges.

Fearing arrest on embezzlement charges, neither his widow nor his son attended his funeral in Serbia.