In a rare interview last week, the commander of the Bosnian Serb army, General Ratko Mladic, spoke with Time at his regional headquarters in Banja Luka. An ally of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, Mladic was charged with genocide by a U.N. war-crimes tribunal. He could help end the Bosnian conflict, but his comments reveal a man who will find it hard to live at peace with his neighbors.

TIME: Must Serb forces recapture what you call the Republic of Serb Krajina before there can be peace?

Mladic: Croatian forces have to withdraw unconditionally and completely from the former Bosnia-Herzegovina and from the occupied territory of the R.S.K. These have been Serbian for centuries. They still would be if the international community and some centers of power had not encouraged the Croats and Muslims to begin this war.

TIME: Is the return by Croatia of Krajina to Serb control a precondition for the Bosnian Serb army's and the Bosnian Serbs' agreeing to any peace negotiations?

Mladic: That is a political topic that I do not want to discuss. But the genocide that Croatia committed against the R.S.K. Serbs has to be condemned by the international community, and their war aims have to be stopped. I hope the international community will do everything to enable Serbs to return to their centuries-old homes.

TIME: Will there be a combined Serb effort to regain those lands?

Mladic: We cannot accept the occupation of any square millimeter of Serb land. We didn't begin this war, and we didn't declare this war. The war was begun and declared on us by the same people who in 1914 and 1941, together with the Austro-Hungarian empire and German fascists, joined against the Serbs.

TIME: What difference has the fall of Krajina made to the military situation on the ground in Bosnia?

Mladic: Since we belong to the same people, we belong to the same army, especially now, after this crisis in the R.S.K. If the Muslims and Croats have soldiers who are paid to fight for their goals by some Western countries-and they were used during this recent crisis-in the same way, we have the legitimate right for all of our soldiers and officers to liberate our land.

TIME: What difference would it make to lift the arms embargo on the Muslims?

Mladic: All this voting for and voting against an embargo is just some kind of screen for the international community. In practice, they don't have any embargo at all. A lot of countries are participating in this in the Balkans; a lot of them are dealing with Croats and Muslims, bringing them weapons because it produces large profits. For them the war is just business.

TIME: You appear to believe that a predominantly Muslim state of Bosnia threatens Europe with Islamization. Is that really a danger?

Mladic: The Turks expelled a vast number of Orthodox Greeks from the bridgehead they retained on the western side of the Bosporus and Dardanelles. Now we see an Islamic push through southern Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia. Where will it lead? That journey can only be finished in Paris. Ask people there how many mosques they were able to see in their childhood and how many they can see now. The danger is very real because by this demographic explosion Muslims are overflowing not only the cradle of Christianity in the Balkans but have left their tracks even in the Pyrenees.

TIME: So this war is actually about preserving culture, is that right?

Mladic: This is a very complex, regional war, with very solid religious features expressed by the Muslims and Croats on their side. It is a very aggressive, occupying war, as was shown by the recent aggression by Croat forces against the R.S.K. But for Serbs it is a war of national liberation for the protection and defense of the land that has been ours for centuries. We don't mind the Muslims living on the territory that they control, no matter what kind of federation or confederation they have with Croats. We just mind that they are fighting us, and we won't allow them to form their state on a single square millimeter of our land. We just want the international community, if the Muslims and Croats are given the right to make this federation or confederation, to recognize the same right of the Serb people to be on our own land with our own people. We are not creating our country in Asia or America or Africa; we're just doing so on our ancestors' land.

TIME: In our recent interview with him, President Milosevic called the taking of the U.N. hostages a shame on the Serb name. What is your comment?

Mladic: The forces of the international community supported our enemies, and in this way, in international law, they became part of this conflict. We were forced to take some of those who were in charge of directing air strikes to warn the international community that they are not combatants.

TIME: What do you plan to do after the war?

Mladic: Ha. I will enjoy the peace.