The NATO military operation in Yugoslavia in 1999 was the result of a decade of civil wars in the vast Balkan Peninsula. After the unified socialist state collapsed, previously frozen ethnic conflicts broke out in the region. One of the main sources of tension has become Kosovo. This region remained under the control of Serbia, although mainly Albanians lived here.
Background
Mutual hostility of the two peoples was aggravated by chaos and anarchy in neighboring Bosnia and Croatia, as well as different religious affiliations. Serbs are Orthodox, Albanians are Muslims. The bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 began due to ethnic cleansing arranged by the secret services of this country. They were a response to the speeches of the Albanian separatists who wanted to make Kosovo independent of Belgrade and annex it to Albania.
This movement was formed in 1996. The separatists created the Kosovo Liberation Army. Her militants began to organizely attack the Yugoslav police and other central authorities in the province. The international community shook as the army attacked several Albanian villages in response to the attacks. Killed more than 80 people.
Conflict of Albanians and Serbs
Despite a negative international reaction, the President of Yugoslavia 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 double pressure, Milosevic retreated. The troops were recalled from peaceful villages. They returned to their bases. The truce was formally signed on October 15, 1998.
However, it soon became clear that the enmity was too deep and strong to be stopped by declarations and documents. The ceasefire was periodically violated by both the Albanians and the Yugoslavs. In January 1999, a massacre took place in the village of Rachak. Yugoslav police executed more than 40 people. Later, authorities claimed that those Albanians were killed in action. One way or another, but it was this event that became the final reason for preparing the operation, which resulted in the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.
What made the American authorities initiate these attacks? Formally, NATO dealt a blow to 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 an internal political scandal erupted in the United States, because of which President Bill Clinton was threatened with impeachment and dismissal. In such circumstances, a “small victorious war” would be an excellent maneuver to divert public opinion to extraneous foreign problems.
On the eve of the operation
Recent peace talks failed in March. After their completion, the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 began. Russia also took part in these negotiations, whose leadership supported Milosevic. The United Kingdom and the United States have proposed a project to create 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 after several years. It was assumed that until then, NATO peacekeeping forces would be in Kosovo, and the forces of the Yugoslav Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army would leave the region in order to avoid unnecessary tension. Albanians have accepted this project.
This was the last chance that the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia would not have happened. However, representatives of Belgrade in the negotiations 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 failed. On March 23, NATO decided that it was time to launch the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). The end date of the operation (believed in the North Atlantic Alliance) was to come only when Belgrade agreed to accept the entire project.
Negotiations were closely watched at the UN. The Organization did not give the green light to the bombing. Moreover, shortly after the start of the operation in the Security Council, a vote was held at which it was proposed to recognize the United States as an aggressor. This resolution was supported only by Russia, North Korea and Namibia. And then, and today, the lack of UN permission for the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia (1999) by some researchers and townsfolk is considered evidence that the US leadership has grossly violated international law.
NATO forces
The 1999 intensive bombing of NATO by Yugoslavia was an essential part of the Allied Force military operation. Strategic civilian and military installations located on Serbian territory were hit by air raids. Residential areas sometimes suffered, including in the capital, Belgrade.
Since the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999), photos of the results of which flew around the world, was an allied action, in addition to the United States, another 13 states took part. In total, about 1,200 aircraft were used. In addition to aviation, NATO also involved naval forces - aircraft carriers, attack submarines, cruisers, destroyers, frigates and large landing ships. The operation was attended by 60 thousand NATO troops.
78 days continued the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). Photos of the affected Serbian cities were widely circulated in the press. In total, the country survived 35 thousand sorties of NATO aviation, and about 23 thousand missiles and bombs were dropped on its land.
Start of operation
On March 24, 1999, NATO aviation launched the first stage of the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). The start date of the operation was agreed upon 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 to be hit was the Yugoslav air defense system. For three days she was completely paralyzed. Thanks to this, the Allied aviation gained unconditional air superiority. Serbian planes almost did not leave their hangars, during the entire conflict there were only a few sorties.
From March 27, intensified attacks on civilian and military infrastructure began, including in large settlements. Pristina, Belgrade, Uzice, Kragujevac, Podgorica - here is a list of cities that affected the first bombing 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 a much stronger episode was remembered by contemporaries. On the day that the aircraft launched the bombing of Yugoslavia, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov flew to the United States on an official visit. Upon learning of what happened in the Balkans, he defiantly turned his board over the Atlantic and returned to Moscow.
Campaign progress
In late March, Bill Clinton held a meeting with his NATO allies - the leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Italy. After this meeting, military strikes intensified. The city of Cacak underwent new bombing. At the same time, Yugoslav special forces captured three NATO soldiers (all of them were Americans). They were later released.
On April 12, the F-15E NATO aircraft was supposed to bomb the bridge (railways passed through it). However, the train that went nearby and brought civilians came under attack (Easter was celebrated in Serbia on this day and many residents went to relatives in other cities). The shell hit 14 people. This was only one of the meaningless and tragic episodes of that campaign.
The bombing of Yugoslavia (1999), in short, was aimed at any objects of any importance. So, on April 22, a blow was struck at the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia in the country. The Allied planes also bombed the residence of Milosevic, who, however, was not there at that time. On April 23, the Belgrade television center was destroyed. It killed 16 people.
Peaceful victims also appeared due to the use of cluster bombs. When the bombing of the Nis began on May 7, it was planned that the target of the flight would be an airfield located on the outskirts of the city. For an unclear reason, the bomb container opened high in the air, causing shells to reach residential areas, including the hospital and market. Killed 15 people. After this incident, another international scandal arose.
The same day, bombers mistakenly hit the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Three people fell victim to this attack. Anti-American actions began in the Middle Kingdom. The diplomatic missions in Beijing suffered serious damage. Against the background of these events, the delegates of both countries urgently gathered in the capital of China to settle the scandal. As a result, the US leadership agreed to pay more than $ 30 million in compensation.
The embassy was hit by mistake. NATO planned to bomb the neighboring building, which housed the Yugoslav arms export office. After the incident, the version that the Americans stopped short because they used an outdated map of Belgrade was actively discussed. NATO refuted these assumptions. Shortly after the operation in the Balkans was completed, the CIA colonel, responsible for making inquiries about the ground targets of the Allied aviation, resigned of his own free will. The bombing of Yugoslavia (1999) was full of such mistakes and tragedies. The reasons for the deaths of civilians were later considered in the Hague courts, where the victims and their relatives filed many lawsuits against the United States.
Russian march to Pristina
In the 1990s, the United Nations was also part of the UN peacekeeping force in the Balkans. 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 admitting defeat, the place of the Serb military in the region should have been taken by the formation of the North Atlantic Alliance.
Literally a day later, on the night from the 11th to the 12th, the Russian combined airborne battalion conducted an operation to take control of the Pristina International Airport - the capital of the region. The paratroopers set a goal to occupy the transport hub before the NATO military did it. The operation was successful. The peacekeeping contingent included Major Yunus-bek Evkurov, the future president of Ingushetia.
Losses
After the operation in Belgrade, they began to count the losses caused by the bombing of Yugoslavia (1999). The country's losses in the economy were significant. Serbian estimates spoke of $ 20 billion. Important civilian infrastructure was damaged. The shells hit bridges, oil refineries, large industrial facilities, and electric power centers. After that, in peacetime, 500 thousand people were left without work in Serbia.
In the early days of the operation, it became known about the inevitable casualties among the civilian population. According to the calculations of the authorities of Yugoslavia, more than 1700 civilians died in the country. 10 thousand people were seriously injured, many more thousands lost their homes, and a million Serbs were left without water. In the ranks of the Yugoslav armed forces killed more than 500 military. Basically, they came under the blows of intensified Albanian separatists.
Serbian aviation was paralyzed. Throughout the operation, NATO maintained total air superiority. Most of the Yugoslav aircraft were destroyed not yet land (more than 70 aircraft). In NATO, two people died during the campaign. It was the crew of a helicopter that crashed during a test flight over Albania. Yugoslav air defense shot down two enemy aircraft, while their pilots ejected, and were later picked up by rescuers. The remains of the crashed aircraft are today stored in the museum. When Belgrade agreed to make concessions, admitted defeat, it became clear that now the war can be won if only aviation and a bombing strategy are used.
Environmental pollution
Environmental disaster is another large-scale consequence that resulted in 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 petrochemical plants important from an economic point of view. After such an attack in Pancev, hazardous toxic substances entered the atmosphere. These were compounds of chlorine, hydrochloric acid, alkali, etc.
Oil from the destroyed tanks fell into the Danube, which led to the poisoning of the territory not only of Serbia, but also of all countries located downstream of it. Another precedent was the use by the NATO forces of depleted uranium ammunition . Later, outbreaks of hereditary and oncological diseases were recorded in places of their use.
Political implications
Every day the situation of Yugoslavia was getting worse. Under these conditions, Slobodan Milosevic agreed to accept the plan for the settlement of the conflict, which was proposed by NATO even before the bombing. The cornerstone of these agreements was the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Kosovo. All this time, the American side insisted. Representatives of the North Atlantic Alliance said that only after the concessions from Belgrade would the bombing of Yugoslavia cease (1999).
UN Resolution No. 1244, adopted on June 10, finally consolidated the new order in the region. The international community has emphasized that it recognizes the sovereignty of Yugoslavia. Kosovo, 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 land, which received real self-government, gradually began to recover after a long civil war. NATO recognized its operation as successful - precisely for this purpose the bombing of Yugoslavia began (1999). Ethnic cleansing has ceased, although mutual hostility between the two peoples has persisted. Over the following years, Serbs began to leave Kosovo en masse. In February 2008, the krai leadership proclaimed its independence from Serbia (Yugoslavia finally disappeared from the map of Europe a few years before). Today, 108 states recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty. Russia, traditionally holding pro-Serb positions, considers the region a part of Serbia.