MOSCOW, March 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Russia did not fully trust former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's preliminary autopsy findings and requested to send his own doctors to examine the body.

    Lavrov said Russia had been offended by the UN war crimes tribunal's refusal to let Milosevic receive treatment for his heart condition in Russia in December.

    Russia "was ready to provide medical assistance to Milosevic and give 100-percent guarantees of his timely return to The Hague. These guarantees were considered insufficient. In fact, Russia was distrusted," the minister stressed.

    "In this situation, when they did not believe us, we also have the right not to believe and not to trust those who are conducting the tests" to determine the causes of Milosevic's death, Lavrov told reporters at a briefing.

    In his words, a group of Russian medics is preparing for an urgent trip to The Hague, to take part in a forensic medical examination.

    "We have asked the tribunal to let our doctors participate in the autopsy or at the very least to be informed of its results," Lavrov said, adding that "a group of our doctors is preparing to depart urgently for The Hague."

    U.N. war crimes tribunal spokeswoman Alexandra Milenov said on Sunday that an autopsy revealed Milosevic had died of a heart attack.

    But a spokeswoman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said it was too early to rule out poisoning as suspected by Milosevic himself days before his death.

    The 64-year-old former president was found dead on Saturday morning in his cell at The Hague-based UN court.

    A Dutch toxicologist confirmed on Monday that he had found traces of an unprescribed drug in a blood sample taken from Milosevic earlier this year.

    Donald Uges said he found traces of rifampicin, a drug that could have reduced the effectiveness of his other medication.

    On Sunday, the Russian Foreign Ministry received a letter from Slobodan Milosevic, dated March 8. "The letter expresses concern over certain methods of treatment which were affecting Milosevic's health," Lavrov noted.

    Milosevic had suffered from chronic heart problems and high blood pressure. His medical condition repeatedly delayed the trial that began in five years ago. Late last month, the tribunal rejected Milosevic's request for provisional release to go to Russia for medical treatment.

    The former Yugoslav president was charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s. Milosevic denied the charges and was defending himself. Enditem