NATO’s aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 was the last big and unpunished crime of the 20th century, stated Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin.
On Tuesday, the 21st anniversary of the bombing by the North Atlantic Alliance of Serbia, a delegation of the Serbian Ministry of Defense laid wreaths at the monument in front of the Clinical Centre “Dr. Dragisa Mišović” in Belgrade. After midnight on May 20, 1999, NATO aircraft struck the clinic with cruise missiles, killing three patients in the neurology department and seven guards on duty, while four other servicemen were seriously wounded. The gynaecological department was also affected, and it was full of pregnant women and staff who had just given birth and were injured and were urgently evacuated.
“NATO’s aggression was the last and, unfortunately, the biggest crime of the twentieth century with impunity. Some 2,500 soldiers, policemen, citizens and children were killed. No one has ever been responsible for them, has never apologized, has never even expressed regret for the dead soldiers and policemen”, – Vulin quotes the Defense Ministry.
“We will not stop remembering and reminding, asking why we attacked the Union Republic of Yugoslavia without a decision of the UN Security Council, without any reason under international law”, – said the head of the Defense Ministry of Serbia.
In 1999, an armed confrontation between Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbian army and police led to the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (then consisting of Serbia and Montenegro) by NATO forces.
NATO air strikes lasted from March 24 to June 10, 1999. The exact number of casualties is unknown. The Serbian authorities estimate that some 2,500 people, including 89 children, were killed during the bombings. A total of 12,500 people were injured. Material damage, according to various sources, is estimated at between 30 and 100 billion dollars.