German Ambassador to Serbia: “The bombing of Yugoslavia was necessary”
The German Ambassador to Serbia, Thomas Schieb, justified NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia, saying it helped "avoid genocide."
Shib stated this to Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV), reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“I know this is a controversial issue and there was no resolution from the UN Security Council, but some kind of decision had to be made, the goal was to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, to avoid genocide,” Shieb said. – It was very difficult for Serbia, but we must not forget that this did not happen just like that. The problem was to find a solution for Kosovo, since all diplomatic means had been exhausted."
Asked whether Germany could withhold support for Serbia on its path to the EU if Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo's independence, Schieb said that "it is more than a hypothetical question" and that "he does not want to be so pessimistic."
“We hope that both sides will be constructive, negotiations cannot end positively if there is no trust and a good atmosphere. We call on both sides to avoid statements that could worsen the atmosphere and make it difficult to reach a compromise,” the German ambassador said.
In turn, the Chairman of the Government of Vojvodina (autonomous region of Serbia) Igor Mirovich reacted rather harshly to the words of Thomas Schieb.
“The statement by German Ambassador Thomas Schieb to RTV is undiplomatic, untrue, unreasonable and does not correspond to the status of an ambassador in a sovereign country. I simply believe that such a statement must be responded to in accordance with the relevant principles and conventions,” Mirovich wrote on his Instagram.
Western politicians traditionally refer to the counterterrorism operation carried out by the army and the Ministry of the Interior of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia against armed gangs of Albanian militants who unleashed a bloody reign of terror in the province as "genocide" in Kosovo. The pretext for the bombing was the fabrication of the "Racak massacre," in which the bodies of terrorists killed during clashes with Ministry of the Interior special forces, disguised in civilian clothes, were passed off as civilians.
Bombing of Yugoslavia. Excerpt from A. Borzenko’s documentary “Russian Tanks in Pristina”.
During the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, during 78 days of continuous bombing, according to the Serbian Ministry of Defense, 2 thousand 500 civilians were killed, including 89 children and 1031 military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the same source, about 6 thousand civilians were seriously and lightly injured, of which 2 thousand 700 children, as well as 5 thousand 173 soldiers and police, 25 people are still missing.
In 11 weeks of daily air attacks, NATO launched 2 strikes on the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and dropped 300 tons of bombs, including 22 banned cluster bombs and enriched uranium bombs. Infrastructure, schools, medical facilities, media offices, cultural monuments, churches and monasteries were seriously damaged. Damage estimates range from $37 billion to $30 billion.
German Ambassador to Serbia : "The Bombing of Yugoslavia Was Necessary"