Serbia is reported to have asked Russia to veto a UN Security Council resolution that would call the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys during the Bosnian war in Srebrenica genocide.
Serbian state TV reported on July 4 that Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic had sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin "pleading" for a Russian "no" in the UN council when the resolution is expected to be tabled next week.
Western nations and Russia have been debating in the UN over whether the killings should be called genocide or not.
Russia -- which has close historic and religious ties to Serbia -- has circulated a rival draft resolution which doesn't mention either Srebrenica or genocide.
The British resolution was intended to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the July 1995 slaughter. UN courts have labeled it genocide.