ZAGREB -- A Croat general, the third most wanted fugitive in The Hague tribunal's list of war crimes suspects, is in hiding in the European Union and not in Croatia, a Croatian weekly said on Tuesday.

The Croatian government has come under increasing pressure recently to arrest General Ante Gotovina, who is accused of killings and widespread destruction during and after the final operation against rebel Serbs in August 1995.

Political weekly ***Nacional***, whose editor Ivo Pukanic won a rare interview with Gotovina at a secret location in July, said UN tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte was wrong in believing he was hiding in Croatia or neighboring Bosnia.

Local media and some officials have claimed the general was hiding in Austria.

There was no immediate comment from the UN tribunal prosecution spokesman.

Gotovina is the tribunal's third most wanted suspect after Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his army chief Ratko Mladic.

Del Ponte has on several occasions accused Zagreb of knowing the general's whereabouts but lacking the resolve to arrest him for fear of protests from the powerful nationalist camp, which regards him as a hero of the 1991-95 independence war.

Earlier this month, she urged Croatia to arrest and hand over Gotovina by the end of the year.

The issue, along with the slow return of Serb war refugees, has become a main obstacle to Croatia's efforts to join the EU in 2007 or 2008.

Gotovina disappeared in July 2001, a day before the United Nations tribunal issued an indictment against him. He was not seen or heard from until the ***Nacional*** interview, which Gotovina's lawyers confirmed to Reuters was authentic.

Pukanic said on Tuesday he had been contacted by Gotovina's friends and received a letter with detailed instructions on how to proceed.

He met Gotovina at a hotel in "a European Union capital", after going through stiff security measures.

"(Gotovina) was sitting back in an armchair, leisurely sipping coffee and smoking red Marlboro. I could not believe my eyes," Pukanic said.

He said Zagreb police had questioned him about the meeting but he revealed no details. He later also briefed Western diplomats and tribunal officials in Zagreb.