What next for Milosevic?

Mr Milosevic had not been seen since the uprising

The mystery over the whereabouts of Slobodan Milosevic is over after Serbian TV showed footage of him meeting the Russian foreign minister in Belgrade.

Mr Milosevic, who had dark circles under his eyes, was shown greeting Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov with a firm handshake at his residence in a suburb of the capital.

Pressure is now growing on the incoming Yugoslav administration to hand him over to face war crimes charges.

Milosevic: What will he do now?

The chief prosecutor of the International War Crimes Tribunal, Carla del Ponte, has said she wants him sent to The Hague at the earliest opportunity.

The fallen strongman had not been seen since the uprising against him began on Thursday morning.

There had been reports he had had left Belgrade or, indeed, the country but these now appear to have been mistaken.

Wanted

Speculation is mounting over his future.

According to the Russian foreign minister, he wants to stay in Yugoslav politics.

BBC Belgrade correspondent Jacky Rowland says that it is not clear if this is realistic, and that Yugoslavia may be witnessing the death throes of his political life.

US ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, a former Balkans envoy, warned that Mr Milosevic may not be finished yet.

"I think we're seeing the end of an era, but we're not quite there yet," Mr Holbrooke said.

Milosevic is certainly capable of engineering a last stand. For the good of the Serbian people, we hope he won't

PJ Crowley, Spokesman US National Security Council

The UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook says the new regime must meet "its obligations to the International War Crimes Tribunal".

But he accepted that Belgrade may want to try him themselves.

Mr Kostunica has said he is opposed to Mr Milosevic's extradition.

Mr Milosevic will also have at the back of his mind the fate of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his powerful wife, Elena, who tried to flee but were caught.

They were executed by firing squad after a secret trial and their bodies hidden to prevent any rallying of Stalinist die-hards.

On Thursday Mr Milosevic's political party said it would fight back with all possible means.

However, those "means" - if they still exist - appear to have been left to a very late hour.

Even Mr Milosevic's propaganda machine has switched sides; many police officers joined the protesters and the army stayed in its barracks.

They have pledged not to intervene unless they were threatened.