Russian President Vladimir Putin called the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia a great tragedy, adding that the West, in fact, launched a war in Europe at that time.
In 1999, an armed confrontation between Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbian army and police led to the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO forces, which started on March 24 and lasted for over two months. The Serbian authorities say that about 2,500 people, including 89 children, were killed and about 12,500 people were injured in the bombings. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the use of depleted uranium weapons caused an increase in the number of cancer patients in the country.
"A great tragedy. What the West has done is unacceptable. Without any resolution of the UN Security Council they started direct military actions, in fact, a war in the center of Europe," Putin said in an interview for a documentary that was broadcast by Russia's TV channel on Sunday, on the 25th anniversary of the start of the NATO bombing.
25 Years Since NATO Bombing of Sovereign Yugoslavia
The world learned that the US and NATO see the globe as their own playground where they do as they please a quarter of a century ago. On March 24, 1999, Western nations started bombing the city of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, under the far-fetched pretext of "protecting" Kosovars.
Despite the NATO bloc not having any mandate from the United Nations, Western countries saw no problem in carrying out the bombing.
Czech leader Vaclav Havel – who recently dragged his nation into NATO despite negative public opinion – coined the term of “humanitarian intervention” and penned an article where he justified Western aggression against the sovereign European state.
“The air attacks, the bombs, are not caused by a material interest. Their character is exclusively humanitarian: What is at stake here are the principles, human rights which have priority above state sovereignty," Havel wrote.
In reality, the bombing of Yugoslavia caused a humanitarian catastrophe with over one thousand killed and national infrastructure being damaged. The list of destroyed "military objects" included hospitals, schools and kindergartens. Yugoslavia collapsed as a nation into several states and the Balkans became a foothold for NATO forces.
Explore Sputnik’s infographic to learn about this aggression:
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