Fresh footage of Europe’s top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic shown on Bosnian television has caused a bitter row with neighbouring Serbia, which is tasked with bringing him to justice.

Federation TV in Bosnia said that the footage of Mladic enjoying himself at family occasions included shots of the former Bosnian Serb military commander and his wife at a ski resort as recently as last winter.

The pictures mostly show Mr Mladic in good health, although in the ski resort he appears more aged and is leaning on a walking stick.

Serb authorities quickly said that none of the images was more recent that 2002 and claimed that they had been leaked to the television station to influence a debate in the Netherlands on whether to advance Serbia’s EU application and relax visa controls. EU foreign ministers will meet next week and are likely to discuss visa controls with Balkan countries.

Mr Mladic, 67, has been on the run from the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) since 1995, when he was indicted for genocide for allegedly orchestrating the massacre of thousands of Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

He was not seriously pursued by nationalist governments in Serbia, but Belgrade says that changed in 2006 with the election of a pro-EU government. There have been no confirmed sightings of Mr Mladic since then.

The government of Boris Tadic has won plaudits from the prosecutor at the ICTY in The Hague for doing all it can to find Mr Mladic, one of two outstanding war crimes suspects.

Some of the family shots of Mr Mladic shown in the programme 60 Minutes also include General Momcilo Perisic, former Chief of General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, who surrendered to The Hague in March 2005.

Evidence that Mr Mladic was enjoying a skiing holiday only last year would set back Belgrade’s ambitions — and the Dutch are adamant that there can be no progress for Serbia without his capture. It was Dutch troops who stood by when Mr Mladic’s forces took away Muslims to be killed at Srebrenica, leaving a deep scar on the Dutch conscience.

Dusan Ignjatovic, director of Serbia’s Office for Cooperation with the Hague, said that the footage was being analysed and that it was probably quite old. “Right now we cannot say exactly where the footage came from. However, our guess is that the footage is old and was seized at various locations in Serbia, and then submitted to the Hague prosecution,” he said.

“Therefore no one wanted to hide them, no one wanted to play around with them, and they could have if they had wanted to. That is further proof that Serbia is doing all in its power to bring Ratko Mladic to justice.

“The majority of that footage was compiled — it can clearly be seen — during the Nineties and the early 2000s, either 2001 or 2002. I don’t know exactly when. As regards the clips purportedly filmed in 2008, this winter to be precise, right now we cannot say exactly whether they were or not, but we don’t believe they were shot in 2008.”

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office at The Hague said that they were examining the footage and would comment later.

Vuk Jeremic, the Serbian Foreign Minister, said: “I have serious doubts about the 2008 reference — 2008 is the year when these pictures could not have taken place. This government of Serbia is firmly committed to completing the cooperation with The Hague tribunal.”

Olli Rehn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, said he doubted that the images were recent. “I would be extremely surprised if your reference to 2008 proved to be correct,” he said in response to a question yesterday.

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