Belgrade, Yugoslavia ? Faced with a midnight suspension of all U.S. aid to Yugoslavia, Serbia’s government issued arrest warrants Sunday against four of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s closest associates to face war crimes prosecution.

The development came as tensions soared in the countdown to the Sunday deadline issued by U.S. Congress to the Yugoslav authorities, demanding they cooperate with the Netherlands-based U.N. war crimes tribunal or lose $120 million in financial assistance.

Four warrants were issued Sunday for former Milosevic associates, including Milan Milutinovic, the current president of Serbia, who remained in his post in Yugoslavia’s dominant republic after Milosevic fell.

Vladan Batic, the justice minister in Serbia, which is Yugoslavia’s dominant republic, said it was now up to police to arrest the four, whose extradition is sought by The Hague tribunal, where Milosevic is currently on trial.

“The police will have the final word. They will decide when and how to carry out the (arrest) actions,” Batic said.

Milutinovic is unlikely to be arrested soon because his post, though virtually powerless since pro-democracy forces took over the government, still carries immunity. His term expires at the end of 2002.

Although U.S. financial aid for Yugoslavia was automatically suspended at midnight Sunday, Secretary of State Colin Powell is to decide this week whether to continue the support.

Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said the country was “only a step away from the most serious international isolation,” blaming his political archrival, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, for lack of cooperation with The Hague court.

Kostunica has opposed extraditions, considering the U.N. tribunal illegal and unjust. He insists that surrender of war crimes suspects should not take place until a special law is passed.

“The Yugoslav president is trying to escape his responsibility in all this, expecting the Serbian government to do the dirty work for him,” Djindjic told Serbian television stations. “This country needs to say clearly where it stands on The Hague (issue) … and not dump all the burden on the Serbian police.”

Djindjic summoned Serbia’s democratic leadership for a late-night meeting Sunday, the state news agency Tanjug reported. Afterward, Batic spoke with reporters.

“Within hours, the United Sates will impose sanctions on our country, sanctions that will mean turning the clock back to the era of Slobodan Milosevic, to misery and isolation,” Batic said.

The four Milosevic aides, charged for crimes against humanity on the same indictment as the former president, were in top positions during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

Besdies Milutinovic, they are Nikola Sainovic, Milosevic’s top security adviser and former deputy prime minister; Dragoljub Ojdanic, a former Yugoslav army commander; and Vlajko Stojiljkovic, former Serbian interior minister in charge of the police.