BELGRADE, Serbia, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Lawsuits filed by Croatia and Serbia charging each other with genocide shouldn't be allowed to hurt the countries' common interests, officials say.
In a joint news conference with his Croatian counterpart, Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said the eventual rulings in the suits "won't make anybody very happy," B92 reported Monday.
However, he expected discussions with Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic "would bring progress to the mutual relations between the two countries and their citizens."
Croatia filed genocide charges against Serbia in 1999 at The Hague related to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the resulting regional conflict between 1991 and 1995. Its lawsuit includes demands for financial compensation, punishment of war criminals and information about missing persons.
Serbia filed a counter-suit in 2010, accusing Croatia of genocide and asking the International Court of Justice to punish those responsible and to order compensation for Croatian Serbs for their losses.
"Let us not poison our relations because of the fact that we see past events in different ways, Croatia in its own way and Serbia in a completely different one," the Serbian minister said.
Both sides agreed the genocide issue should not affect daily relations between the countries, Pusic said. The discussions represented a "resolving of issues from the past," he added.
The ICJ will begin a debate on the genocide controversy March 3.
