Chinanews, May 19, according to foreign media reports, on May 18 local time, Czech President Milos Zeman met with visiting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to participate in NATO for the Czech Republic in 1999. Apologies to Serbia for the bombing of the Yugoslavian League.

  Zeman said that he himself wanted to take this opportunity to apologize for (NATO) bombing the then Yugoslavia.

He said: "I hope to ask the people of Serbia for forgiveness."

  Zeman said that when NATO bombed Yugoslavia in 1999, the Czech Republic had just joined NATO.

As prime minister at the time, he approved the Czech Republic to participate in NATO military operations. However, he said that the Czech Republic was the "last" country among NATO member states that agreed to the operation.

His country "desperately" sought partners within the alliance to oppose the bombing, but ultimately failed.

He said, "(The Czech Republic at the time) still lacked courage."

  Zeman called this "a mistake" and he said it has been bothering him.

  The Serbian President thanked Zeman for his apology, saying that no one else had made a similar statement about the bombing.

  However, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kurhanek stated that the Czech president’s apology to Serbia for NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia was a "personal statement."

  Zeman served as prime minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002.

On March 12, 1999, the Czech Republic formally joined NATO. On March 24 of the same year, NATO began to bomb the then sovereign state Yugoslavia for 78 days without authorization from the United Nations, causing casualties and economic losses. The loss is hard to estimate so far.