European leaders urged restraint yesterday as the Milosevic regime was crumbling to people power. But they also held out the prospect of Serbia rejoining the comity of nations speedily if the revolution succeeded.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, said sanctions would be lifted if Mr Milosevic fell. "The European Union has set in motion the mechanisms so that as soon as the will of the Serbian people is respected. . . we will first of all immediately lift sanctions and secondly there will be an economic assistance package to help the Serbian people to put their economy back together," he said.
The European Parliament President, Ms Nicole Fontaine, echoed his words telling the parliament: "The EU and the European Parliament in particular will do everything possible to contribute to the reestablishment of democracy."
The French Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, said his government and the international community "are sticking with the Serb people, who are fighting for democracy." In Russia (a possible ultimate destination for Mr Milosevic) President Putin called on the opposing forces to avoid an escalation of violence and said he hoped its international isolation could be ended.
"We are ready to contribute to this country overcoming the current crisis, coming out of international isolation and putting itself firmly on the path of democratic development," Mr Putin said in Moscow after a visit to India.
As questions were raised over Mr Milosevic's fate, an official in Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko has voiced consistent support for the Yugoslav leader, denied Mr Milosevic was on his way to Minsk.
In Berlin, meanwhile, Chancellor Gerhard Schroder urged the Yugoslav security forces not to fire on their own people. "My appeal - and I say this as the German chancellor on the basis of our experience during the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall - is don't fire on your own people. That would be a disaster. I hope that the democratic opposition succeeds."
The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, told Mr Milosevic: "Go." He said: "Go now. Go before any more lives are lost, before there is any more destruction."