Slobodan Milosevic "is the most responsible for the war and Franjo was right behind him," Mesic said in the interview for Press which hit the newsstands on Sunday.

Mesic told the daily that as the last chairman of the former Yugoslav rotating presidency, he had no part in the break up of the Yugoslav federation.

"It would have better if we had stopped the war, rather than embarking on a war 'adventure'. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) had three integrative factors - Tito, the Communist Alliance and the Yugoslav People's Army. Tito left ... the political scene, the Communist Alliance was dissolved and the Army was looking for a sponsor. A new political agreement should have been reached, but Milosevic wanted neither a federal nor a confederal SFRY," says Mesic.

Mesic claims that he, as chairman of the SFRY presidency, had proposed that republics declare independence, sign a confederation agreement on the same day and set a deadline of three to five years to see if they should continue to coexist in the federation or move on independently as good neighbours.

Mesic claims that Milosevic did not want to accept anything and had lied to the world that he advocated the SFRY and lied to the Serbs by saying "Take the guns and 'bring' territory and we shall all live in the same country."

Tudjman was confident that a large part of the international community supported Milosevic. Tudjman was simply impressed by Milosevic. Franjo then decided- if Serbia can expand its borders, it would be good to ask that Croatia be able to realise its interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And this is how the war started," says Mesic.

Asked to comment on the present-day relations between Croatia and Serbia, Mesic refuted media speculation that the relations have been deteriorated, adding that the two countries cooperation was good.