On April 18, NATO aircraft flew 500 sorties and used cluster munitions.
Photo: NOTICIAS DEL ESTE
A quarter of a century ago, on March 24, 1999, the NATO operation began in Yugoslavia under the elegant name “Noble Anvil”, also known as “Allied Force”. Rockets and bombs flew into the country. The blows hit Belgrade.
The Serbs, witnesses of these events, told KP.RU about them.
OPERATION ALLIED FORCE
The alliance demanded that the Serbs actually hand over Kosovo, where Albanians, entrenched on historic Serbian lands, craved autonomy and provoked bloody conflicts. President Boris Yeltsin, fearing that Russia would be drawn into the war, refused to supply weapons to Belgrade and blocked Yugoslavia’s entry into the union of the Russian Federation and Belarus, although both Serbian and Russian deputies spoke in favor. .
Despite this, the possibility of a Third World War did not seem illusory at that time. NATO wanted to prevent Russian peacekeepers from entering Kosovo. Therefore, when the defeat of the Serbs was already predetermined, our paratroopers occupied the Slatina airport in Pristina, preventing the transfer of the alliance forces. Fortunately, there was no direct confrontation, although the commander of NATO forces in Europe, American General Clark, demanded that his subordinates attack the Russians.
Our peacekeepers entered Kosovo and were there until 2003. Former Serbian president Milosevic died after an international tribunal in a prison in The Hague. His “testament” to the Russians floats on the Internet: “Look at us and remember: they will do the same to you when you part and give in!” They say it is false, but the essence is true. This is what the current events in Ukraine fully demonstrate.
Our paratroopers occupied the Slatina airport in Pristina, preventing the transfer of alliance forces.
Photo: TASS photo chronicle.
“AMERICAN MISSILES BLEW THE BUILDING OUT OF THE WINDOW”
Stevan Gajic, PhD in Political Science, researcher at the Institute of European Studies in Belgrade:
– I was 15 years old. The night before the first bombing was very tense, because everyone was preparing for the attacks. At that time not everyone had a mobile phone. My parents raised the alarm and called everyone they knew because I didn’t get home on time. And I stayed late at the gym: we had a poetry evening, where the famous Serbian writer Matija Bečković spoke…
Classes were canceled and in quiet moments we played soccer. And as soon as the air raid signal sounded, they hid in the basements. True, at some point people simply got used to it and began to stay in their apartments, hoping for the best and praying to God.
A boiler room near my house exploded and caught fire. American missiles destroyed the former Central Committee building of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia; this could also be seen from the window.
My father worked as a correspondent for the Tanyug news agency. His journalists offered to host Serbian children for a time. That’s how I came to Russia for the first time. We were going by bus from Belgrade to Budapest and in the sky I saw big NATO planes…
The alliance demanded that the Serbs effectively hand over Kosovo, where Albanians, entrenched on historic Serbian lands, craved autonomy.
Photo: Vadim SHERSTENIKIN
They put us on a Russian Emergencies Ministry plane and flew to Domodedovo. From there they took us to the Iskorka children’s camp. Due to our proximity to the airport, during the first week we were constantly stressed; We heard airplane noises, which on a subconscious level reminded us of NATO planes bombing the city.
I only knew the words “hello” and “ok.” But we were friends with Russian children. They showed us Moscow and St. Petersburg, they even organized a cruise on the ship “Maxim Litvinov”: this is how I saw lakes Ladoga and Onega, Kizhi, Uglich, Kostroma, Yaroslavl. We spent almost two months in Russia. I will never forget that trip because of the love that the Russian people showed us…
Rockets and bombs flew into the country. Strikes hit Belgrade
Photo: NOTICIAS DEL ESTE
The current authorities are thinking about giving foreign investors land in the very center of the capital, which has great meaning and symbolic value. For example, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will receive a free 99-year lease and the right to build a luxury hotel-residential complex and museum on the site of the destroyed Yugoslav General Staff building. An Israeli company has already built three of its skyscrapers on the site of the Ministry of the Interior building…
“NATO LIST OF DEAD PEOPLE HAS NOT BEEN PUBLISHED”
Ljubisa Ristic, president of the Serbian-Russian Friendship Society “Zavet”: “My son was born 15 days before the bombing started. For many years I worked in the Vozdovac community in Belgrade and was an advisor to the head of the municipality.
We lived at 71 Ustanichka Street, on the fourth floor. When the missile warning siren began to sound, I grabbed the baby carrier and went down to the basement. The son was only 15 days old, but he did not cry, he slept peacefully all night and very serene. It may be stupid, but I’ve always been proud of this fact.
They say: “time heals everything”, “life goes on”…. One of the symbols of Belgrade, the Aval Television Tower, was restored in 2010. At the official opening ceremony, people cried.
Serbia is a country under American occupation. Although the Serbian government is accommodating, the West never gets enough. I will share an example that few people know about, even among Serbs.
After the bombing began, the statistics office was asked to record the casualties and destruction. This job was done. After the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic and the Bulldozer Revolution on October 5, 2000, the new government removed the electronic database of this data. And the paper file was handed over as waste paper. “The list of people killed during the NATO operation has never been published.”
“WE ARE CONNECTED BY SOMETHING INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE ENEMY”
Milena Chojanovic, political scientist and diplomat of the town: “I was eight years old. Sunday. Getting ready to go to school, which I ended up not going to, and getting ready for bed.
The first blows hit me in the soul, I felt something like a slight earthquake. A few minutes later my mother ran in and she literally took me to the room where my father was sitting. He talked endlessly on the phone with friends and family in other cities. And on television they showed the first images of the bombings and instructions to citizens on how to behave correctly.
The neighbors came and asked if they could hide with us in the basement. The fact is that only a few houses in my area had a basement.
I clearly remember the feeling of confusion when my mother wore a tracksuit instead of pajamas to bed. No one slept that fateful night. And in the morning they informed us that the schools were closed. It was the longest weekend of my life.
In my country there are still traces of NATO’s criminal activities. Moreover, the most painful of them is not visible to the normal eye: it is depleted uranium, which, together with tons of ammunition, was dumped on the fertile Serbian soil. The West committed genocide against my people. In time, God willing, this truth will be known throughout the world. The world deserves the truth and is always alone.
Talking with friends and colleagues I came to the conclusion: few peoples in the world can boast of a friendship that lasts nine centuries. Even though the West has invested huge amounts of money in the hybrid conflict, it has failed in my country. “The Serbs and the Russians are united by something incomprehensible to the enemy and there is no weapon against it.”
Lists of those killed during NATO bombing of Yugoslavia are destroyed
Photo: NOTICIAS DEL ESTE
“IT IS DIFFICULT FOR ME TO PASS BY THE SERBIA RADIO AND TELEVISION BUILDING, 16 OF MY COLLEAGUES DEAD THERE”
Alexander Simic, television journalist at Studio B: “For many years there was a lot of talk about a possible attack, but no one believed it would happen.
I spent the first few days in fear. Suddenly everything changed: there were no more partisan divisions or fights. I remember walking through Slavia Square in the capital, where the trolleybus broke down. Then all the passengers got out and started pushing him. This has never happened before.
Traces of the bombings are most visible in the Serbian Radio and Television building. On April 23, 1999 it was bombed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, allegedly due to the television station’s role in the “Belgrade propaganda campaign”.
I find it especially difficult to pass by. 16 of my companions died there, some of whom I knew personally. There is a monument there with “WHY” written in capital letters above the names of the victims. No one in the West has ever answered this question, so as not to take responsibility.
On June 20, NATO officially ended the military operation.
Photo: Vadim SHERSTENIKIN
FROM THE KP.RU FILE: CHRONICLE OF THE NATO ATTACK ON YUGOSLAVIA
March 23, 1999: NATO Secretary General Solana orders the commander of the alliance’s units in Europe, Clark, to launch military operation “Allied Force” against Yugoslavia.
Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who was flying to visit Washington, ordered the plane to turn around the Atlantic and return to Moscow.
March 24: Russian President Boris Yeltsin condemned the West’s intention to bomb Yugoslavia and called on the international community to persuade US President Clinton not to do so. In the afternoon the first NATO bombs fell on cities in Serbia and Montenegro.
March 25: Yugoslavia declares a state of war on NATO.
April 8: Yeltsin rejects the possibility of supplying weapons to Yugoslavia. “This means dragging us into a big war.”
April 12: The Yugoslav parliament voted for the country to join the union of Russia and Belarus. The Russian parliament ruled in favor, Yeltsin blocked the process.
April 18: During the day, NATO aircraft flew 500 sorties and cluster warheads were used.
April 21: NATO spokesman Giuseppe Marani confirmed that the airstrikes use depleted uranium projectiles.
June 10: The withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Kosovo and Metohija begins.
June 11 – Russian troops from the peacekeeping contingent in Bosnia and Herzegovina entered Pristina and occupied the airport. The reason was the West’s refusal to allow our peacekeepers into Kosovo.
June 12: British General Jackson, despite the order of the American NATO command, refused to force the Russians to leave the airport with the words “I will not allow my soldiers to unleash World War III.”
June 20: NATO officially ends its military operation.
