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A UN resolution condemning the 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica as a "crime of genocide" was vetoed Wednesday by Russia, earning denunciations by the US and Britain and by international human rights groups like Amnesty International.

The systematic killing by Serb regulars and paramilitary of some 8,000 unarmed Bosnian Muslims who fled the town of Srebrenica, a supposed UN-protected 鈥渟afe haven,鈥� was a turning point in the Bosnian war, and a moment of conscience that forced the West to act on a European crisis that it had until then watched from the sidelines.

Russia said the resolution, which was timed in advance of the 20th anniversary of the massacre on Saturday, would create further divisions in the Balkans by singling out the Bosnian Serbs for a war crime.

But the veto is being seen as part of Vladimir Putin鈥檚 ongoing efforts to challenge and push back against the West, and the New York Times said it marked 鈥渁 new low in relations among world powers.鈥�

The British-drafted resolution urged that, "Acceptance of the tragic events at Srebrenica as genocide is a prerequisite for reconciliation.鈥� However Russian UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said the genocide term was "confrontational and politically-motivated."

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, who was a witness to the Bosnian war as a journalist, countered by saying, 鈥淭his is a veto of a well-established fact,鈥� and is 鈥渉eartbreaking鈥� for the families of the victims.

Peter Wilson, the British envoy, accused Russia of denying facts established by a special international tribunal. 鈥淚t is denial, and not this draft resolution, that will cause division,鈥� Mr. Wilson said. 鈥淒enial is the final insult to the victims.鈥�

The Telegraph, the British daily, reported that:

The Srebrenica atrocity followed five years of violence in the Balkans largely fomented as a result of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic鈥檚 policy to carve an ethnic 鈥淕reater Serbia鈥� out of the former Yugoslavia.

In the past 20 years two international tribunals have prosecuted combatants on 鈥済enocide鈥� charges. But the Security Council resolution would have been the first formal definition of 鈥済enocide鈥� for a crime that was the worst in Europe since World War II. The phrase 鈥渆thnic cleansing鈥� was coined by a US diplomat during the early phases of the Bosnian tragedy to describe a then-Serbian policy to drive Bosnian Muslims out of their homes and villages.

Two of the arch protagonists of the Srebrenica massacre, Gen. Ratko Mladic and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic are being tried at the Hague for crimes including genocide.

The massacre took place after UN Dutch peacekeepers vacated one of the UN designated 鈥渟afe havens鈥� in Bosnia.

The Bosnian war, coming after the fall of the Berlin Wall, caused bitter debates within the transatlantic community about the legacy and meaning in Europe of the phrase 鈥渘ever again,鈥� regarding the genocide of the Jews in the Holocaust. The breakup of Yugoslavia suggested that ethnic nationalism in Europe had not been quelled by 50 years of an ideological standoff between communism and democracy.

On the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica event, the Monitor reported from the Hague, where the UN tribunal for war crimes during the Yugoslav war was taking place:聽

Amnesty International director for Europe John Dalhuisen said Thursday the rejected UN resolution was "about much more than just recognizing Srebrenica as a genocide. It was also about acknowledging the urgent need to provide justice to the victims and long-term support to survivors, including of sexual violence, and clarifying the fate and whereabouts of the over 8,000 still missing from the war.鈥�