Tanjug News Agency
March 24, 2022

23 years ago, NATO committed an aggression on Serbia

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the NATO aggression on Serbia – then part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – which began on March 24, 1999, and lasted for 78 days.

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the NATO aggression on Serbia – then part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – which began on March 24, 1999, and lasted for 78 days.

In a precedent, the order for the start of the aggression was issued to US general Wesley Clark, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe at the time, by then NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana without approval by the UN Security Council.

In a book titled Waging Modern War, Clark later said planning for NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia had been well underway in mid-June 1998 and completed in late August that year.

The NATO aggression was preceded by insincere “offers” from the international community.

As later confirmed by then US State Secretary Madeleine Albright, the bar of demands was raised on a daily basis to accuse Serbia of not accepting an agreement.

The FRY was attacked as the purported culprit for a humanitarian disaster in Kosovo-Metohija (the direct pretext and the excuse was the Racak incident), as well as for the failure of the Rambouillet and Paris talks on the province’s status.

In fact, the strikes were conducted in support of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army – a terrorist formation of the Kosovo-Metohija ethnic Albanians – which had already committed numerous war crimes by that time.

After the Serbian parliament confirmed a decision against foreign troops being deployed in Serbian territory and instead proposed that UN forces oversee a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Kosovo-Metohija, NATO commenced air and missile strikes on March 24, 1999, at 7.45 pm, targeting locations in Serbia and Montenegro.

The raids were executed from NATO ships deployed in the Adriatic and from four air bases in Italy.

According to information released by the Serbian Defence Ministry, 2,500 civilians – including 89 children – and 1,031 military and police servicemen were killed in the aggression.

The ministry also said around 6,000 civilians – including 2,700 children – and 5,173 military and police servicemen were wounded, while 25 people are still reported missing.

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Tanjug News Agency
March 22, 2022

“They did it on purpose, but the Europeans don’t know – they were poisoned, too”

During the bombing of FR Yugoslavia, NATO also poisoned Europe, Dr Danica Grujičić told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

The director of the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia explained that chemical plants and various dangerous industries were bombed, which, as she says, created an ecological catastrophe and poisoned Europe.

According to Grujičić, the use of NATO bombs with depleted uranium and the destruction of environmentally dangerous facilities during air strikes have led to Serbia being now the leader in the number of cancer deaths in Europe, with almost 60.000 new cancer patients a year.

“The North Atlantic Alliance did not pay attention to civilian casualties. Everyone knows the famous conversation between former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Finnish diplomat Martti Ahtisaari, who said that Belgrade would be levelled to the ground (if it does not accept the ultimatum),” Grujičić added.

“If we had a nuclear power plant, they would definitely hit it, because they attacked everything on the list of facilities dangerous for the environment. They knew that a local environmental catastrophe would be created in every oil refinery, chemical company. They did it on purpose”, she said.

Grujičić recalled that about 15 tons of depleted uranium were officially dumped on Serbia, but emphasized that “no one knows how much it really was, and it will never be known.”

“We have taken the initiative to determine with mathematical precision, not only medical, but also environmental consequences. The data we received show that the whole of Europe was polluted. Europeans who were looking forward to the bombs over Belgrade and Serbia are also endangered and do not know what they were breathing, eating, drinking,” she added.

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Tanjug News Agency
March 24, 2022

Is America really behind it all?

The conflict in Ukraine is the last example that Europe is completely subordinated to the United States, said former diplomat Vladislav Jovanović.

The conflict in Ukraine is the last example that Europe is completely subordinated to the United States, said former diplomat Vladislav Jovanović.

However, according to him, as soon as the crisis ends, Europe’s need to “get out of the embrace” of the United States of America will be more visible and faster.

“How and where it will go, whether to turn Western Europe into a new, global power or to disintegrate Western Europe due to growing conflicting interests between them, remains to be seen,” Jovanovic told Tanjug when asked if the Ukrainian crisis was leading to international realignment and whether this is the most challenging moment for Europe since World War II.

He adds that he expects further pressure on Serbia and emphasizes that Serbia must preserve its neutrality.

According to Jovanovic, the world must be regulated by agreement, not imperialism as the USA started, and that, he says, means accepting that it is one of the greatest powers and starting to respect the sovereignty and independence of others, especially smaller countries.

“America is not willing to do that yet, which shows the treatment of Serbia, which does great services to peace and stability, but one empire wants, above all, obedience, and not perfection in conducting politics. They are not interested in that”, Jovanović says.

Asked whether he expects further pressure on Serbia and whether our country can emerge from this situation as a country that will preserve neutrality and will not impose sanctions on Russia, Jovanovic said that Serbia can and must do so, because otherwise, he said, it would end its existence as an independent entity.

“Throughout history, Serbia has always defended its originality and independence. In the current situation, aggravated by the desire of one great power to subjugate everything to its will, we are in a endangered position, but we are not helpless”, believes Jovanović.

He emphasizes that Serbia must not break its historical ties with Russia, which, he says, is the only great power that stood by Serbia in critical moments.

“The only way to keep Kosovo and Metohija as an open issue is to maintain relations with Russia, because there are no other obstacles to Kosovo’s entry into the UN. There are only Russia and partly China. United States need to deprive us of our last support and force us to recognize the independence of Kosovo, and that was tantamount to political suicide,” Jovanovic concluded.

Jovanovic sees the situation around Ukraine as the last “tango of America” ​​to keep his allies under control and to humiliate them by forcing them, he says, to “accept” measures that are against their economic interests.

On the other hand, he says, the United States wants to “show its teeth” towards its rivals and to demonstrate imperial discipline towards small countries that are trying to stay aside.

“America has begun to lose control of world processes and has decided to go on the offensive by declaring China a rival and Russia an opponent. It is important for America to get Russia involved in some conflict in order to get an excuse for putting pressure on it, which has not been noticed so far, and that is the economic war without borders”, states Jovanović.

The goal, he says, is to provoke Russia’s internal weakening, social and political dissatisfaction through the conflict in Ukraine, and change the government, and bring a regime that would be in favor of America.

According to Jovanovic, this is achieved by opening a conflict between the two largest Slavic nations, and it is in America’s interest, he says, that this conflict lasts as long as possible in order to prevent the possibility of Ukraine and Russia living in a common state again.

“It is not an official U.S. strategy, but it is obvious,” Jovanovic concluded.