On March 24, 1999, NATO forces launched a military operation against Yugoslavia, codenamed "Allied Force". For several months, the air force of the alliance launched a series of rocket-bombing attacks on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The operation was conducted in violation of international law, without the approval of the UN Security Council. Russia, China and a number of other Security Council members opposed it.

“The operation itself, when they bombed Serbia, was carried out with gross violations of all principles of international humanitarian law, because they bombed purely civilian objects,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told NTV television.

In the very first days of the operation, NATO forces tried to seize air supremacy, striking at air defense and Yugoslav aircraft. However, mainly civilian targets were bombed: residential areas of Belgrade, schools, kindergartens, and oil refineries. Despite the technical superiority of the enemy, the Yugoslav air defense forces managed on March 27 to shoot down an American stealth plane F-117.

In April-May, those whom the alliance allegedly defended were also hit by NATO strikes: columns of Albanian refugees, as well as civilian infrastructure of Kosovo. These attacks took the lives of hundreds of people. According to local media reports, dropping bombs on civilians, NATO aircraft then repeated their strikes when medics arrived at the scene.

The blows to the civilian population and civilian objects of Yugoslavia in the course of the operation became increasingly large-scale. To stop the death of compatriots, Slobodan Milosevic on June 3 agreed to implement the Western peace plan. However, the bombing continued for another week. On June 20, Yugoslav troops left Kosovo.

“The Alliance had no legitimate grounds for such actions, primarily the mandate of the UN Security Council. This act of aggression violated the fundamental principles of international law enshrined in the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, as well as the international obligations of the member states of the bloc. The alliance’s actions even contradicted the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, in which NATO countries pledged not to jeopardize international peace, security and justice, and also to refrain from the use of force or the threat of its use in international relations if this is contrary to the goals of the UN. It was then that the beginning of the substitution of international law for “order” based on some arbitrary rules, or rather on the right of the strong, ”the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

  • Slobodan Milosevic in 1999
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“NATO’s actions against Yugoslavia were an absolute violation of international law. According to international legal acts, such use of force is possible only by decision of the UN Security Council, which was not in this case, ”said military expert Ivan Konovalov in an interview with RT.

As a result of the NATO operation, the people of Yugoslavia suffered heavy losses. According to official data of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, about 1,700 civilians and almost 600 security officials died under the missile and bombing strikes of the alliance. About 400 children were among the victims of the NATO raids. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, about 2,000 civilians, including 89 children, were victims of aggression.

More than 10,000 people were admitted to Yugoslavian hospitals during the time of the bombings with severe injuries. Hundreds of thousands of Serbian and Montenegrin people were left without a livelihood, a roof over their heads, and even without access to clean water.

The use of munitions containing depleted uranium by the North Atlantic Alliance has led to a sharp increase in the level of oncological diseases. Even those who were not directly affected by the blows of NATO felt their consequences - the damage to the Yugoslav economy was about $ 30 billion, the 14 largest enterprises in the country were destroyed, about 50 bridges were damaged.

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Despite the technical advantage of NATO, aggression has not remained unanswered. According to the data, announced by the Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, Dragolyub Oydanych, 61 aircraft and seven NATO helicopters were shot down during the battles. True, the alliance recognizes the loss of only two planes and several dozen UAVs.

The path to war

The first speeches of the Kosovo Albanians took place in 1981. Against this background, interethnic relations in Yugoslavia as a whole have deteriorated. In 1991-1992, the country fell apart. Only Serbia and Montenegro remained in the renewed Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In the mid-1990s, there was an escalation of violence against the Serbian population in Kosovo. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was created (according to some media reports, with the support of the US and British special services. - RT ), which in 1998 took a course to separate the province from Yugoslavia. Began full-scale military clashes. After the NATO-supporting NATO Council announced the preparation of a military operation against Yugoslavia, official Belgrade signed an armistice on October 15, 1998 in Kosovo. However, attacks on the peaceful Serbian population continued, and in early 1999, the Yugoslav security forces were forced to resume fighting.

January 14-18, clashes occurred in the area of ​​the village of Racak. Representatives of the Kosovo Liberation Army accused the Yugoslav security forces of "executions" of the peaceful Albanian population. According to the findings of the Serbian, Belarusian and Finnish experts, the dead in Racak were disguised as civilians with gunpowder marks on their hands. However, the European Commission considered that there was no evidence of the participation of those killed in the battles. The incident in Racak became the formal basis for NATO intervention in the conflict.

  • Rally against NATO in Belgrade
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  • © Petar Kujundzic

“It was not a reason, but an artificially created excuse. The fact that it was a provocation has long been known. This was repeatedly said, written and cited evidence. The allegedly killed civilians were in fact military men, militants of the Albanian liberation army, the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, who were simply dressed in civilian uniform. It has long been known that this was such a “setup”. Unfortunately, the then head of the OSCE mission, American Walker, organized this provocation and, having arrived on the scene and found corpses that, as I said, were neatly dressed in civilian clothes, right there, on the spot, stated that an act of genocide had taken place. ” , - said Sergey Lavrov.

The Alliance demanded that Belgrade allow NATO troops into Kosovo, but the leadership of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia refused. The United States, with the approval of other Western countries, tried to enlist the support of the UN Security Council. Russia, China, Argentina and Brazil opposed the force case.

“Americans could not be stopped. They decided long ago and tried to “consecrate” him through the UN Security Council, and realizing that nothing had happened, they went towards unilateral aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the UN Charter, principles of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and, in principle, the whole world order. It was created on the basis of the Second World War, ”said Sergey Lavrov.

According to political analyst Catherine Pomortseva, the process of separating Kosovo from Serbia looks well planned and inspired from the outside.

“This happened for a long time, smoothly, with the involvement of a significant amount of resources. I think that even with the unilateral proclamation of independence of Kosovo in 2008, this process has not ended. The Kosovo problem will continue in the future, ”Pomortseva said in an interview with RT.

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U-turn over the Atlantic

According to Sergey Lavrov, the actions of the USA in Yugoslavia were related to the fact that Washington considered itself the victor in the Cold War, and Russia was weakened after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Washington was tempted to take the situation around the world under its complete control, to move away from the principles of harmonizing approaches to international problems on the basis of the UN Charter and to solve all the issues that arise in order to dominate all regions of the world," Lavrov stressed.

The bombing of Yugoslavia led to a sharp cooling of relations between Russia and Western countries, in particular with the United States. A landmark event was the "turn over the Atlantic," experts say. On March 24, 1999, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who was on a visit to the United States, launched a plane over the Atlantic Ocean and returned to Russia.

“If the West understood how the bombing of Yugoslavia would affect Russia, then I think it would not have gone on this adventure. The reversal of Primakov’s aircraft over the Atlantic was closed to Russia by the “dashing nineties” and marked the beginning of a new era, ”political analyst Armen Gasparyan said in a conversation with RT.

According to military expert Ivan Konovalov, one of the main reasons for the conflict was the desire of the US authorities to check on NATO in the matter, in order to understand whether after the end of the Cold War the bloc could be used in its own interests without regard to international law and the UN.

“US partners in NATO were drawn into aggression against a European country. And both old and new - they were actually tied with blood. In addition, the United States solved the task of taking under its military air control of South-Eastern Europe, in the center of which is Kosovo. It is impossible to ignore the fact that at the same time, Bill Clinton got into an unpleasant story with Ms. Lewinsky, and it was urgent to divert public attention to the side, ”explained Konovalov.

  • Bill Clinton announces decision to start bombing Yugoslavia
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According to the expert of the Institute of European Studies Stevan Gayich, the bombing of Yugoslavia pursued geopolitical and ideological goals.

“A new world order was created. After the collapse of the bipolar world there should have been one independent state - the United States. Yugoslavia interfered with the West by its very existence, and it was sacrificed, ”the expert said.

According to analysts, the fact that the United States was able to conduct a military operation against a sovereign state without the sanction of the UN Security Council became a prologue to the subsequent illegal military intervention by Washington in the affairs of independent states.

“The bombing of Yugoslavia opened the Pandora’s box. It is thanks to the impunity of the United States in the Balkans that Iraq, Libya and Syria became possible. And so far this process has not stopped, ”noted Ivan Konovalov.

According to Sergey Lavrov, what happened in 1999 is “auditioning” to the world so far.

“They try to use that experience when individual media are not called media but“ propaganda tools. ” That is, by the way, in France they call Russia Today and Sputnik, they are forbidden to appear at events where other media are accredited. It was then that a line began on the accusation of journalists from a number of media outlets that they were “the mouthpiece of propaganda” —that was how they explained the need for strikes on the television center in Belgrade, ”the Russian foreign minister said.

"The Balkans still hear the echo of the bombing"

Despite the fact that 20 years have passed since NATO’s military operation, this topic remains an unhealing wound for Serbians, experts say.

According to Catherine Pomortseva, the 1999 bombing caused Serb disappointment in international law.

“For residents of Serbia, talking about international law is a funny joke. They do not believe in international justice proclaimed in the West and international courts, which, following the Yugoslav conflict, condemned mostly the Serbs, ”the expert emphasized.

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According to Stevan Gayic, the memories of the NATO bombings are extremely painful for the Serbian people and largely determine their current attitude to the Western world.

“Despite the fact that NATO is investing huge amounts of money in promoting its ideology, the alliance has a negative image in Serbia. The Balkans are still hearing and will hear the echo of the bombing, ”he said.

The tragedy of 1999 has not forgotten the leadership of Serbia.

“We can forgive, but we cannot forget NATO’s aggression, we want good relations with NATO, but we don’t want to join NATO,” said Serbian President Alexander Vucic shortly before the 20th anniversary of the bombing.

Commenting on the words of Vucic and Serbian experts, the head of the Center for the Study of the Modern Balkan Crisis of the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Elena Guskova noted that the moderate tone of the Serbian leadership is due to the difficult foreign policy situation in which the republic is located.

“Of course, Vucic does not say that the bombing of Yugoslavia should be forgotten. The Serbs have not forgotten this and will not forget it, that's for sure, ”the expert emphasized in an interview with RT.

According to her, these days in Serbia many events take place at the national and local level, including with the participation of the authorities, so as not to forget what happened 20 years ago.

“Serbs remember. And they have no desire to join NATO. The number of people who are against NATO and even against the EU is constantly increasing in Serbia, ”summed up Elena Guskova.

  • Ruined television center in Yugoslavia
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