24.03.2022, Moscow.
5,000 people became victims of NATO bombing in Yugoslavia in 1999 and more than 10,000 more were wounded, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.
Volodin reminded in his address that exactly 23 years ago, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombed Yugoslavia continuously for 78 days, destroying 1,500 settlements.
Continuous bombings were carried out for 78 days. Cluster munitions and depleted uranium shells were used.
As Volodin noted, at that time “none of the leaders of the United States and NATO countries has ever been punished.”
“Moreover, incumbent US President Joe Biden was a senator at the time and actively supported the bombing and called for the occupation of Yugoslavia,” the speaker of the State Duma wrote.
Volodin says that Russia is recalling the events of those years with special pain. There is pride in the “heroic march on Pristina.” But there is also an understanding that in the 1990s, Russia was not ready to defend the brotherly peoples of the former Yugoslavia from NATO aggression.
“But we must admit that in 1999 our country, which had passed through the devastation of the nineties and the betrayal of national elites, did not have enough power to help the fraternal peoples of the former Yugoslavia, to protect them from NATO aggression,” Volodin wrote.
Now, says Volodin, after 23 years, the situation has changed, and under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, “Russia has become a strong and independent state with a combat-ready army. And Russia cannot help but stand up for the Russian world.”
“We could not allow the genocide of our citizens and compatriots living in Donbass,” Volodin writes.
23 years ago, on March 24, NATO launched air strikes on the territory of Yugoslavia because of the armed conflict of Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbian police.
The NATO bombing lasted 78 days. NATO dropped rockets and cluster bombs on peaceful citizens of the country killing over 2.5 thousand people, including 87 children.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
