Russia must take a more active role in Balkan diplomacy and offer more support to democratic forces in Yugoslavia, a Serbian opposition leader said in an interview published Wednesday.

Zoran Djindjic, head of Serbia's Democratic Party, told the Kommersant daily that Russian diplomats and legislators had received him and two other opposition leaders "with good will." But "a greater number of concrete appraisals and recommendations from the Russian side wouldn't have hurt," he said.

Following a deputy foreign minister's meeting recently with Djindjic, Vuk Draskovic and Vojislav Kostunica, the Russian Foreign Ministry called for the Yugoslav government to return the opposition-controlled TV station that was seized recently.

But the opposition delegation failed in its goal of persuading the Kremlin to drop its support for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.