Serbian president promises never to forget ‘NATO aggression’ – RT in French

As Serbia commemorates the 24th anniversary of NATO’s bombing campaign, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said it marked the moment when “modern international law finally died”.

Serbs will only be able to forget the “aggression” unleashed in 1999 by NATO if their country ceases to exist, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on March 24, on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the bombing campaign of former Yugoslavia by the Atlantic Alliance.

Aleksandar Vucic, who was speaking at a ceremony in the town of Sombor to commemorate the victims of the airstrikes which claimed the lives of several hundred (according to the NGO Human Rights Watch) or several thousand (according to Belgrade) Serbs , added that the United States and its allies had not yet responded to justice for their attacks, which were carried out in violation of international law. For the Head of State, this NATO aggression marked the moment when “modern international law is finally dead”.

“24 years have passed. You have taken away parts of our territory. You have killed 79 children, 2,500 people and not only civilians, but also soldiers and policemen”, underlined the Serbian president. “Who are you to kill our soldiers and our policemen who are on their territory and in their country? Where did you get the right to kill our soldiers and policemen? Who gave you this right?”, he still lamented.

Aleksandar Vucic also recalled that the Atlantic Alliance had attacked a “free and sovereign” country, while justifying its action by the need to put an end to “genocide”. Serbia was then in the grip of a civil war with Albanian separatists, after having experienced other post-Yugoslavian conflicts in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. The Serbian president also recalled that NATO had not obtained authorization from the United Nations Security Council to launch its military intervention, which did not prevent it from doing so.

According to the Serbian leader, NATO carried out this aggression for two reasons: to show that “we are the strongest and that we can do everything”, and “to take [les provinces] of Kosovo and Metohija” to Serbia. The Head of State concluded his speech by explaining that Serbia’s duty was “to try to forgive”, but that it could only forget everything if it ceased to exist.

His speech comes at a time when Belgrade is under intense pressure from Western countries over its ties to Russia.