The bombing of Yugoslavia (1999): causes, consequences

NATO's military operation in Yugoslavia in 1999 was the result of a decade of civil wars in the vast expanses of the Balkan Peninsula. After the unified socialist state collapsed, previously frozen ethnic conflicts broke out in the region . Kosovo has become one of the main hotbeds of tension. This region remained under the control of Serbia, although Albanians mainly lived here.

Prerequisites

The mutual dislike of the two peoples was aggravated by chaos and anarchy in neighboring Bosnia and Croatia, as well as by different religious affiliations. Serbs are Orthodox, Albanians are Muslims. The bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 began because of ethnic cleansing, arranged by the special services of this country. They responded to the speeches of Albanian separatists who wanted to make Kosovo independent of Belgrade and to annex it to Albania.

This movement was formed in 1996. Separatists created the Kosovo Liberation Army. Its militants began to organize an organized attack on the Yugoslav police and other representatives of the central government in the province. The international public was stirred when the army attacked several Albanian villages in response to the attacks. More than 80 people died.

Conflict between Albanians and Serbs

Despite the negative international reaction, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic continued to pursue his tough policy against the separatists. In September 1998, the UN adopted a resolution that called on all parties to the conflict to lay down their arms. At this time, NATO demonstratively prepared to bomb Yugoslavia. Under such a double pressure, Milosevic stepped back. The troops were withdrawn from peaceful villages. They returned to their bases. Formally, the truce was signed on October 15, 1998.

However, it soon became clear that the enmity was too deep and strong, so that it could be stopped by declarations and documents. The truce was periodically violated by both Albanians and Yugoslavs. In January 1999, there was a massacre in the village of Rachak. The Yugoslav police executed more than 40 people. Later, the authorities claimed that those Albanians were killed in battle. One way or another, but this event was the final reason for the preparation of the operation, which resulted in the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.

What prompted the US authorities to initiate these attacks? Formally, NATO was attacking Yugoslavia in order to force the country's leadership to stop the punitive policy against the Albanians. But it should also be noted that at that time the domestic political scandal broke out in the United States, because of which President Bill Clinton was threatened with impeachment and deprivation of office. In such conditions, "a small victorious war" would be an excellent maneuver to distract public opinion from foreign problems.

On the eve of the operation

The last peace talks failed in March. After their completion, the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 began. In these negotiations, took part and Russia, whose leadership supported Milosevic. The United Kingdom and the United States proposed a project providing for broad autonomy in Kosovo. At the same time, the future status of the region was to be determined according to the results of the universal vote in a few years. It was assumed that until that time in Kosovo there will be NATO peacekeeping forces, and the Yugoslav Interior Ministry and the army will leave the region in order to avoid unnecessary tension. The Albanians adopted this project.

This was the last chance that the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 would not have happened. However, representatives of Belgrade refused to accept the terms. Most of all they did not like the idea of the appearance of NATO troops in Kosovo. At the same time, the Yugoslavs agreed with the rest of the project. Negotiations broke down. On March 23, NATO decided that it was time to begin the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). The date of the end of the operation (counted in the North Atlantic Alliance) was to come only when in Belgrade they would agree to accept the entire project.

The negotiations were closely monitored at the UN. The Organization was never given the go-ahead for bombing. Moreover, shortly after the beginning of the operation in the Security Council, a vote was held at which it was proposed to recognize the US as an aggressor. This resolution was supported only by Russia, North Korea and Namibia. And then, and today, the lack of permission from the United Nations to bomb Yugoslavia's NATO (1999) by some researchers and ordinary people is seen as evidence that the US leadership grossly violated the norms of international law.

NATO forces

The intensive NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 was the main part of the military operation "Union Force". Under strategic air strikes, strategic civilian and military installations were located on Serbian territory. Sometimes residential areas suffered, including in the capital - Belgrade.

Since the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999), the photo of the results of which flew all over the world, was an allied action, in addition to the United States, another 13 states took part. In total, about 1200 aircraft were used. In addition to aviation, NATO also involved naval forces - aircraft carriers, shock submarines, cruisers, destroyers, frigates and large amphibious ships. The operation was attended by 60,000 NATO troops.

The bombing of Yugoslavia continued for 78 days (1999). Photos of the affected Serbian cities were widely replicated in the press. In total, the country experienced 35,000 flights of NATO aircraft, and about 23,000 missiles and bombs were dropped on its land.

Start of operation

On March 24, 1999, NATO aviation began the first stage of the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). The date of the beginning of the operation was agreed by the Allies in advance. As soon as the Milosevic government refused to withdraw troops from Kosovo, NATO aircraft were put on alert. The first was the Yugoslav air defense system. For three days it was completely paralyzed. Thanks to this, the Allied aviation has obtained an unconditional superiority in the air. Serbian aircraft almost did not leave their hangars, during the whole conflict only a few sorties were conducted.

Since March 27, intensified attacks on civil and military infrastructure have begun, including in large settlements. Pristina, Belgrade, Uzice, Kragujevac, Podgorica - this is the list of cities that affected the first bombings of Yugoslavia. 1999 was marked by another round of bloodshed in the Balkans. At the very beginning of the operation, Russian President Boris Yeltsin in a public speech called on Bill Clinton to stop this campaign. But much more strongly to contemporaries remembered another episode. On the day when the planes started bombing Yugoslavia, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov flew to the United States on an official visit. Having learned about what happened in the Balkans, he demonstratively deployed his board over the Atlantic and returned to Moscow.

Campaign progress

At the end of March, Bill Clinton held a meeting with his NATO allies - the leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Italy. After this meeting, military strikes increased. The city of Cacak was subjected to new bombing. At the same time, the Yugoslav special forces captured three NATO soldiers (all of them were Americans). Later they were released.

On April 12, the NATO F-15E aircraft was supposed to bomb the bridge (railways passed through it). However, under the blow was a train that was walking nearby and was carrying civilians (on that day in Serbia Easter was celebrated and many residents of the country went to relatives in other cities). As a result of hitting a shell, 14 people were killed. It was only one of the senseless and tragic episodes of that campaign.

The bombing of Yugoslavia (1999), briefly, was aimed at any important objects. Thus, on April 22, a strike was struck at the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia in the country. Allied aircraft bombed the residence of Milosevic, which, however, at that time there was not. On April 23, the Belgrade television center was destroyed. It killed 16 people.

Peaceful victims appeared also because of the use of cluster bombs. When the bombing of Nisha began on May 7, it was planned that the target of the flight would be an airfield on the outskirts of the city. For an unexplained reason, the container with bombs opened high in the air, because of which the shells flew to residential areas, including hospitals and the market. 15 people died. After this incident, another international scandal has risen.

On the same day, bombers mistakenly struck the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The victim of this attack was three people. Anti-American statements began in the Middle Kingdom. Diplomatic missions in Beijing suffered serious damage. Against the backdrop of these events, the delegates of both countries urgently met in the Chinese capital to settle the scandal. As a result, the US leadership agreed to pay more than $ 30 million in compensation.

The blow to the embassy was caused by mistake. NATO planned to bomb the neighboring building, which housed the Yugoslav arms export office. After the incident, the version was widely discussed that the Americans broke off because they used the obsolete map of Belgrade. In NATO, these assumptions were refuted. Shortly after the completion of the operation in the Balkans, the Colonel of the CIA, responsible for making inquiries about the land targets of the allied aviation, resigned at his own request. Such mistakes and tragedies were full of the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). The reasons for the death of civilians were later examined in the Hague courts, where the victims and their relatives filed many suits against the United States.

Russian march-throw on Pristina

As part of the UN peacekeeping forces in the Balkans in the 1990s there was also a Russian group. She took part in the events in Yugoslavia at the final stage of the NATO operation. When on June 10, 1999 Slobodan Milosevic agreed to withdraw his troops from Kosovo, in fact recognizing the defeat, the place of the Serbian military in the region was to be occupied by the formations of the North Atlantic alliance.

Literally every other day, on the night of the 11th to the 12th, the Russian Combined Airborne Battalion conducted an operation to take control of Pristina International Airport, the capital of the region. Before the paratroopers set a goal to occupy the transport hub before the military NATO will do it. The operation was successfully completed. The peacekeeping contingent included Major Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the future president of Ingushetia.

Losses

After the operation in Belgrade, they started counting the losses that led to the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). The country's losses in the economy were significant. Serbian estimates were about 20 billion dollars. Important objects of civil infrastructure were damaged. Under the projectiles bridges, oil refineries, large industrial facilities, power units were hit. After that, in peacetime, 500,000 people were left without work in Serbia.

Already in the first days of the operation, it became known about the inevitable victims among the civilian population. According to the estimates of the Yugoslav authorities, more than 1,700 civilians were killed in the country. 10 thousand people were seriously injured, many thousands more lost their housing, and a million Serbs were left without water. More than 500 military personnel were killed in the ranks of the Yugoslav armed forces. Basically, they fell under the blows of the intensified Albanian separatists.

Serbian aviation was paralyzed. In NATO, during the entire operation, they held total superiority in the air. Most of Yugoslavian aircraft was destroyed before the earth (more than 70 vehicles). During the campaign, NATO killed two people. It was the crew of a helicopter crashed during a test flight over Albania. Yugoslav anti-aircraft defenses shot down two enemy aircraft, while their pilots ejected, and later were picked up by rescuers. The remains of the collapsed aircraft are now stored in the museum. When they agreed to concessions in Belgrade, they admitted their defeat, it became clear that now the war can be won by using only aviation and the bombing strategy.

Environmental pollution

Ecological disaster is another large-scale consequence, which led to the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). The victims of that operation are not only those who died under shells, but also people who suffered from air poisoning. Aviation diligently bombed important from an economic point of view, petrochemical plants. After such an attack in Pancevo, dangerous toxic substances entered the atmosphere. These were compounds of chlorine, hydrochloric acid, alkali, etc.

Oil from the destroyed tanks hit the Danube, which led to the poisoning of the territory not only of Serbia, but also of all countries that were below it downstream. Another precedent was the use by NATO forces of ammunition with depleted uranium. Outbreaks of hereditary and oncological diseases were recorded later in the places where they were used.

Political implications

Every day the situation of Yugoslavia was getting worse. In these circumstances, Slobodan Milosevic agreed to accept a plan for the settlement of the conflict, which was proposed by NATO before the bombing began. The cornerstone of these arrangements was the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Kosovo. All this time, the American side insisted on its own. The representatives of the North Atlantic Alliance declared that only after the concessions from Belgrade the bombing of Yugoslavia would cease (1999).

UN Resolution 1244, adopted on June 10, finally fixed the new order in the region. The international community stressed that it recognized the sovereignty of Yugoslavia. Kosovo, the remaining part of this state, received wide autonomy. The Albanian army was supposed to disarm. An international peacekeeping contingent appeared in Kosovo, which began to monitor the maintenance of public order and security.

According to the agreements, the Yugoslav army left Kosovo on June 20. The region, which received real self-government, gradually began to recover after a long civil war. In NATO, their operation was recognized as successful - that was precisely the reason for the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). Ethnic cleansings have ceased, although mutual hostility between the two peoples has survived. Over the subsequent years, the Serbs began to massively leave Kosovo. In February 2008, the province's leadership declared its independence from Serbia (Yugoslavia a few years before finally disappeared from the map of Europe). Today, 108 states recognize the sovereignty of Kosovo. Russia, traditionally adhering to the pro-Serb positions, considers the province to be part of Serbia.