Moscow says it hopes former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic will be granted provisional release from detention in The Hague to undergo medical treatment in Russia.
The statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry on March 22 came a day after the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) released a motion in which Mladic's lawyers said that the 74-year-old's health had significantly deteriorated.
The lawyers said that releasing him "is the only just, humane, and medically sound course of action that can ensure he will live to see the trial judgment."
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow has given the ICTY the "necessary assurances for a positive resolution of the matter."
"We hope that the ICTY will promptly make a decision on his temporary release and allow Mladic to undergo treatment at one of Russia's medical institutions," it said.
Mladic's trial wrapped up in December.
Judges are considering verdicts on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in connection with his role in the 1992-95 Bosnian War.
