In June 1999, the Yugoslav newspaper Nedelni Telegraf, citing Slobodan Milosevic, published details of negotiations between Viktor Chernomyrdin and Martti Ahtisaari and the president of Yugoslavia: >"Ahtisaari began the meeting with the following statement: 'We are not here to discuss or negotiate at all'... Milosevic took the documents and asked: "What happens if we don't sign?"
In response, Ahtisaari pulled a vase of flowers from the center of the table and eloquently ran his hand over the polished surface: >"Belgrade will be like this table. We will immediately start carpet bombing Belgrade."
Repeating his gesture, Ahtisaari repeated threateningly: >"It's going to happen with Belgrade."
A moment of silence, and then he added: >"In less than a week there will be half a million dead."
Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (born June 23, 1937, Viipuri, Finland) - President of Finland (1994-2000), Finnish diplomat, UN official. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (2008).
The most tangible consequences were caused by NATO strikes on the industrial complex in Pančevo: the nitrogen plant, the oil refinery and the petrochemical complex. Poisonous chemicals and compounds leaked into the atmosphere, water, and soil, threatening human health and environmental systems throughout the Balkans. Significant quantities of vinyl chloride monomers, chlorine, ethylene dichloride, 40 percent sodium lye, and 33 percent hydrochloric acid were in the tanks of the petrochemical plant at the time of the bombing.
As a result of NATO's actions, the air was poisoned by toxic fumes from burning oil refineries, the Danube and other rivers were poisoned by oil from bombed reservoirs, Lake Skadar and other lakes and the Adriatic Sea were polluted.
NATO's bombing of chemical production facilities was a precedent in history. Leposava Milicevic, Minister of Health of the Republic of Serbia, stated: "Even Adolf Hitler did not bomb our chemical plants! NATO is quietly doing this, destroying rivers, poisoning the air, killing people and the country. Our people are being subjected to a brutal experiment with the latest weapons.
daily reminder to spit on NATO and wish all politicians to die a horrible and humiliating death
Jonathan Baker
if someone touches nato i will end their miserable life
Ian Lopez
The use of uranium in munitions during NATO's war against Yugoslavia subsequently led to a major scandal in Europe. In 2001, a number of European countries became aware of the deaths of servicemen serving in the former Yugoslavia from cancer. As of January 2001, there were 18 deaths and eight people were diagnosed with leukemia. This case is known in the media as the "Balkan syndrome".
Greece, Belgium, Portugal, and France have announced medical examinations of their soldiers. These countries have demanded an explanation from the U.S. regarding the impact of uranium shells on the occurrence of blood cancers. As European Commission President Romano Prodi said, European nations must learn the truth, and if the weapons are dangerous, they must be destroyed.
In response, U.S. authorities said there was no evidence linking the use of radioactive shells to disease. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, while acknowledging the use of radioactive shells and bombs, said
>"There is no evidence yet to link health problems among peacekeepers and the depleted uranium weapons used by NATO during the war in Kosovo."
According to preliminary studies by a UN commission in January 2001, eight of the 11 sites surveyed that were struck by uranium munitions were seriously contaminated. According to experts, most of the water in Kosovo is not fit for consumption. UN officials were advised to stay away from dangerous sites and to drink from local water sources. Decontamination of contaminated areas was estimated to cost several billion dollars.
Connor James
Well he just told the truth to them, not like Finland was there to carpet bomb anyone, should he have lied that no NATO is not going to annihilate serbs if they dont sign?
According to the Russian historian-balkanist and member of the Senate of the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) E. Yu. Guskova, NATO's goals in the war were as follows:
- Changing the leadership of Serbia and Montenegro, reorienting it toward the West.
- Separation of Serbia and Montenegro, turning Kosovo into an independent state.
- Liquidation of the armed forces of Yugoslavia.
- Free deployment of NATO forces on the territory of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro. NATO consolidation, testing its military power, testing new weapons and destroying old ones.
- Demonstration of NATO's importance to Europe, setting a precedent for the use of military force without the consent of the UN Security Council.
>N-no we totally wouldn't attack Russia with cluster bombs and nuke Moscow after taking Ukraine in NATO, we are le defensive organization
Brody Ross
nooo russia is bad we are good
Parker Hernandez
However, as E.Yu. Guskova states that NATO's goals were to reorient Serbia toward the West and to demonstrate the organization's strength to the world. NATO uses the fact that the UN and various INGOs condemned the actions of Yugoslav leaders as justification for the use of its forces in Yugoslavia. NATO uses Yugoslavia's rejection of the Rambouillet agreement as another reason to justify its actions.
NATO refused to legitimize its invasion through the United Nations, believing that Russia and China would veto their actions. As a result, NATO began its action without UN authorization, calling it a "humanitarian intervention," effectively ignoring the UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force without a UNSC decision, or not in self-defense, thereby violating international law de jure.
In Serbia, as well as in the former Yugoslav countries, the name used is Operation Merciful Angel (Serb. Milosrdni anђeo), which is commonly believed to be the result of a misunderstanding in the Yugoslav media, or a mistranslation that has become widespread among citizens of the SR Yugoslavia (probably due to a reservation by PRC Chairman Jiang Zemin).
