The Voice of Russia in Serbian, however, hinted on 14 May that Washington may have been behind the armed action, quoting British newspapers to the effect that the only man in Croatia more powerful than Galbraith is President Franjo Tudjman. The broadcast also carried stories that may reinforce Serbian fears that the Croatian government is fascistoid and bent on destroying Serbian national identity. Serbian civilians continue to leave western Slavonia for Bosnian Serb-held territory under UN supervision. The monitors said it was probably the most orderly transfer of refugees in the Yugoslav conflict to date. International media also reported that Croatian officials have tried to convince Serbs that it is safe to remain.
Many elderly people have no intention of leaving.
Nasa Borba on 13 May said that a UN commission has begun work on investigating reports of massacres of Serbian civilians and that some Croatian military authorities were cooperating. Previous reports by Serbs of wholesale atrocities in western Slavonia have largely proven unsubstantiated. But this has not been the case with accounts of Bosnian Serb attacks on Croats and Roman Catholic centers in the Banja Luka area. In one such incident, a church was destroyed with monks still inside. Novi list on 13 May carried the text of the local bishop's formal protest letter to Karadzic.