Reports: Widow of Serbia strongman Milosevic dies in Russia

BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbia's state television says that Mirjana Markovic, the widow of former strongman Slobodan Milosevic, has died in Russia. She was 76.

The RTS report says Markovic died Sunday in a hospital. Milosevic's SPS party sent condolences to the family.

There were no details about the cause of death.

Markovic, who was the leader of a neo-Communist party during Milosevic's rule in Serbia in the 1990s, was considered to be a power behind the scene with major influence on her husband.

She fled Serbia in 2003 after Milosevic was ousted from power in a popular revolt and handed over to the U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands, where he faced a genocide trial for his role in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He died in jail there in 2006.