If the "godfathers" of the aggression against Yugoslavia decided to openly reveal their true intentions to the world, to reveal the deep logic of the strategy of the North Atlantic Alliance, then at banquets in honor of the half-century anniversary of NATO, glasses should be filled not with champagne, but with wine ... blood. It, spilled in the Balkans under NATO bombs and missiles, would be more than enough for anniversary celebrations in Brussels, Washington, Rome, Berlin, London, Paris, Istanbul, and other capitals of the" old "members of the alliance, and for the" new converts "of Budapest, Prague, Warsaw, and for the bloody "communion" of all eager to join this military bloc.

Today in NATO, I think, it is more appropriate not to celebrate, but to feel bitter remorse, prayers for atonement for the deadly sins of murderers.

Europe is at war for the first time since World War II. The most powerful military coalition of 19 countries on the planet, led by a militant superpower, has not yet achieved the slightest success, but has already shaken the world order on which the relative security of humanity has been based for the past half century. As soon as the first Tomahawks hit Yugoslavia, people in many countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America anxiously asked the question: who is next? No one has any doubts that the Balkans are a training ground where the world's overseas gendarme, having lined up his NATO allies, is honing his deadly craft.

The Balkan drama is such a complex phenomenon that it is simply unthinkable to cover its main aspects in one article. Therefore, "Landmark" will keep this topic under review.

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Now, according to the Constitution of J992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia consists of two republics: Serbia and Montenegro. And the Republic of Serbia includes the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.

Kosovo occupies an area of about 11,000 square kilometers in southern Serbia. Before the start of the NATO bombing, 1.5 million people lived in it, more than 900 thousand of them Albanians. It borders Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia. It has rich deposits of coal, silver, lead, and zinc. There is a giant of the mining and metallurgical industry of Yugoslavia-the Trepca combine and the Oilichevo thermal power plant complex, the administrative center is the city of Pristina.

* * * Prehistory of the war

The ethnic conflict in Kosovo has deep historical, religious, demographic and socio-economic roots. Both a simplified interpretation of them and a decision in favor of only one of the opposing parties are unacceptable. Both the Yugoslav leadership, led by FRY President Slobodan Milosevic, and the Kosovar leaders bear their share of responsibility for the escalation of the political and socio-economic crisis into civil war and foreign military intervention.

Kosovo was annexed to Serbia after the first Balkan War of 1912-1913. Then the ratio of Serbs and Albanians there was approximately equal. The roll in the Albanian direction occurred after the occupation of the province by Italian and German fascists during World War II, when Kosovo began to be settled by Albanian residents. Under Marshal Tito, under the 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Kosovo and Vojvodina were virtually equal in rights with the six Federal Yugoslav republics. Kosovo received its own constitution, legislative bodies, government and even the right to conclude international agreements. The only thing that didn't exist was the right to secede, like Croatia, Slovenia, or Macedonia. This did not suit the Albanian nationalists. In the spring of 1981, they provoked mass unrest, during which they demanded the independence of the region.

The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, which came into force on 28 September 1990, severely curtailed Kosovo's previous rights. All that remained was territorial and cultural autonomy. According to the decision of the Assembly of Serbia, since 1990, the province of Kosovo and Metohija has neither legislative nor executive authorities. At the same time, the region received a new name - Kosovo and Metohija-from the Greek word "metoch" (posad, estate), which should remind Albanians that this is the Serbian land where the Serbian state was born. After that, the Kosovo Albanians proclaimed their own "Republic of Kosovo", created a government and parliament. Ibrahim Rugova was elected the first President of the "Republic of Kosovo" in May 1992. The Government of the "Republic of Kosovo" is in exile in Switzerland.

The separatist forces of Kosovo Albanians, yielding to the calls of extremists, declared their "historical rights" to create an autonomous republic, withdraw from the FRY and reunite with Albania at a particularly difficult time for the FRY, which caused a response from the FRY leadership. The Kosovo Albanian leaders ' demands for the secession of Kosovo from Serbia have touched deep feelings of Serbs, for whom Kosovo (and Metohija) is the cradle of Orthodoxy, a place where national religious shrines and historical monuments are concentrated.

The transition of Kosovars from a political struggle to an armed one, the creation of an illegal armed group - the so-called "Kosovo Liberation Army" (OAK), calls by political leaders and OAK commanders for the complete expulsion of Serbs from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija led to the strengthening of supporters of a military solution to the problem in the Serbian leadership, provoked the introduction of regular army units special police.

By supporting OAK, Kosovo Albanians became involved in terrorist activities and were targeted by government forces. The leaders of the separatist movement, the OAK commanders, made a bet on the intervention of the United States and NATO in the conflict, excluding the possibility of resolving the crisis on terms acceptable to Belgrade. The majority of Kosovo Albanians have not yet realized that the leading circles of the United States, Great Britain, Germany and other NATO countries are using them as a tool to eliminate President Milosevic, finally weaken the FRY and realize their geopolitical interests.

Kosovars ' demands for full sovereignty and secession of Kosovo from Yugoslavia, as well as their desire to implement them through armed violence, run counter to the norms of international law and the principle of inviolability of borders, set a dangerous precedent for redrawing the political map of the region and are fraught with negative consequences not only for the Balkans, but also for Europe as a whole.

The miscalculations and mistakes of the Yugoslav leadership regarding Kosovo also played a role in the escalation of the conflict. Negative consequences were caused by the abolition in 1990 of the provisions of the 1974 Constitution of the SFRY, which guaranteed the province of Kosovo broad autonomy, as well as education in the province in the Albanian language. In response to the growth of Albanian separatism in Kosovo, the Yugoslav leadership encouraged Serbian chauvinism, did not cooperate sufficiently with the moderate Albanian opposition (I. Rugova and others). Unjustifiably harsh measures were taken against large segments of the civilian population. The search for mutual understanding was hindered by the equally harsh approach of the Belgrade authorities both to terrorists from the armed formations of the "Kosovo Liberation Army" and to Kosovars fighting for their civil rights. Conducting large-scale military operations against the OAK with the "cleansing" of the area and the destruction of settlements led to increased support for terrorist groups on the part of the Albanian population.

Underestimating the negative reaction of the West to the refugee problem caused by the fighting against the separatists, the Yugoslav leadership deprived itself of the political support of international organizations, including the UN. Counter-terrorist operations were conducted without adequate information support abroad and without taking into account the reaction of international public opinion to reprisals against the civilian population, which gave rise to the deployment of an anti-Serbian campaign and contributed to the formation of public opinion in the United States and NATO countries in support of the alliance's military intervention.

The radicalization of the Albanian movement in Kosovo and Metohija began in 1998. It has three main trends. The first is political. It operates through the Democratic Union of Kosovo led by Ibrahim Rugova, who, while advocating Kosovo's independence, does not deny the possibility of negotiations with the republic's leadership. The second is connected with the activities of the "government underground" and the name of Buyar Bukoshi. The headquarters of the "government" is located in the city of Ulm (Germany). Bujar Bukoshi has a great influence on Albanians who work or emigrate outside of Kosovo. Through his hands pass money that is sent to Kosovo from abroad. The third is extremist, operating by terrorist methods within the framework of OAK.

The goals of the political and military leadership of the illegal armed group-the "Kosovo Liberation Army" - are to create and expand a" free territory " where the Serbian authorities do not operate, to achieve recognition of their struggle as national liberation and, with the support of international organizations, to secede from Yugoslavia.

OAK militants, who were trained in Albanian camps, provoked the resumption of the conflict in early 1998 on their conscience - armed clashes with the Serbian police, explosions in the Macedonian cities of Gostivar, Kumanovo and Prilep, and the murder of civilians. The terrorist methods include killing and evicting Serbs, blockading Serbian villages, threatening to kill and kill loyal Albanians who did not want to fight, taking civilians hostage, attacking police posts and army patrols. Most of the roads in the province became dangerous for movement and were controlled by Albanian paramilitary patrols. The population of the region, which did not support the extremists, was intimidated and also subjected to violence. Catholic Albanians left their villages in fear to avoid being forcibly recruited into terrorist groups.

Clashes between armed Albanian groups and the police already resembled fighting in the spring of 1998. OAK tried to expand its zone of influence, and army government units and the police not only hindered them, but also actively destroyed support bases, weapons depots, moving to the border with Albania. By October 1998, Kosovo was virtually free of armed groups that had been pushed back to the Albanian border.

"Forcing peace"

The events became particularly tragic when NATO began to intervene more and more clearly. In August 1997, the North Atlantic Alliance warned the Yugoslav president about the possibility of armed intervention in the conflict in order to allegedly " prevent further bloodshed." Air strikes on Serbian positions were considered the most likely scenario for a military action in Kosovo. In its "peace enforcement" campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina, NATO met no objections from any country in the world, and this gave it confidence that the change in the concept of its role in the world is going well.

The logic of the North Atlantic Alliance's actions clearly indicates its desire to become an independent factor in resolving regional conflicts, not to depend on the UN Security Council, as was the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There, NATO used the UN as a cover to "legitimize" its peacemaking. Already in September 1992, the process of gradual, gradual penetration of the alliance into the structure of the peacekeeping forces began, and in 1994, NATO air raids began, which were still covered with peace-loving rhetoric. But the alliance itself practiced purely military operations and pursued its own goals, far from peacemaking. In one of the propaganda films prepared by the NATO press center, the air attack against the Serbs was openly called "the first offensive operation of the NATO armed forces." Let's quote: "The NATO offensive was devastating. During the two weeks of this campaign, dubbed "Deliberate Force," more than 3,500 NATO sorties were flown to destroy ammunition depots, radar installations, storage facilities, command posts, and many other facilities."

NATO's involvement in the conflict in the Balkans is connected with the need to adapt the alliance to the new world order imposed by the United States. American President B. Clinton, from the standpoint of great-power chauvinism, stated about the priorities of US foreign policy:"America is now stronger than ever both economically and politically, so it has a special responsibility for the modern order in the world." Washington proved to its European partners that they would not be able to solve complex international issues without the United States. The geopolitical prosperity of the United States is associated not with the implementation of economic measures, but with military policy, with the possibility of redivision of the world under the guise of peacekeeping operations. The most important change in American geopolitical approaches has been a return to power politics.

The Farce at Rambouillet

The negotiation process in Rambouillet between the Yugoslavs and Albanians followed a shortened program, but according to the Dayton scheme - first information training, when the world was reminded of the "cruelty" of the Serbian regime towards the Albanian population, then imitation of negotiations and, finally, a tough ultimatum - to sign the entire package of agreements proposed. Moreover, it was obvious that the United States had little interest in achieving peace in the region. NATO's ground forces were already concentrated on the border with Kosovo, and the air force was building up its power without making it dependent on the progress of negotiations. When the Albanian and Serbian delegations were close to signing a treaty on the "broad" status of the autonomous region, the Americans became concerned - their plans were disrupted. Yugoslavia received an ultimatum: if you sign the treaty, we will send troops, if you don't sign it, we will strike from the air. This ultimatum also revealed the true goals of the United States - in any case, NATO received guarantees of its participation in a military action.

The reaction of the FRY delegation was natural: it refused to sign the treaty, but was ready to continue negotiations. This text did not suit the Albanians, who were not experienced in diplomatic intrigues, either. They did not want to disarm and disband the militant groups. It took a pause to explain to them the purely formal nature of the signing of the treaty, which would be followed by a harsh "punishment" of Yugoslavia. The Americans, who were preparing this strange action behind Russia's back, could not give a legal form to the "armed mission" of NATO in Kosovo and played a show with the unilateral signing of the treaty by the Albanians.

Massive strikes began, which were supposed to force the Serbs to agree to any conditions of the West: to remove Milosevic, give Kosovo to the Albanians, and allow the alliance's troops to deploy on their territory. At the same time, Clinton, Holbrooke, and Albright are trying to convince the Serbs that the killing of civilians, the destruction of bridges, factories, barracks, airfields, radars, and military installations are conducted in the interests of the Serbian people and all military power is directed exclusively against the president of the country. The Americans believe it, but the Serbs don't. They endure the bomb attacks with a tenacity and calmness that the West cannot explain, do not give in to panic, and continue to go to work. And the management is not asking for mercy.

The adventure undertaken by NATO is aimed at showing the strength and determination of the alliance, teaching a lesson to the recalcitrant Serbs, causing maximum military damage to Yugoslavia, ultimately forcing them to agree to NATO's demands and thus eliminate the island of independence from the United States in Europe up to the borders of the CIS.

NATO's missile and bomb attacks on Yugoslavia have transformed the Kosovo crisis from a political one to a military one. The military operation of the Resolute Force bloc included 3 stages: preparatory, main and final. During the preparatory stage, it was planned to disable the air defense system of Yugoslavia and disorganize management, as well as demoralize the population and military personnel. The main stage included massive airstrikes, missile strikes and the entry of ground forces. The final stage provided for a gradual cessation of hostilities and a transition to a political solution to problems. Such a plan was made public by the aggressive Western alliance. The political task of the first stage is to conduct an effective demonstration of force, convince Belgrade of the futility of resistance and force it to accept American conditions. At the same time, the NATO command tried to solve it with "little blood". The "Iraqi scenario" was taken as a model, when the US-led coalition forces bombed the country with impunity.

But events began to develop in a different scenario: Yugoslavia, trying to inflict maximum damage on NATO troops, demonstrates readiness for a protracted war.

With the beginning of the bombing, armed Albanian extremists launched a large-scale offensive against the Serbs almost throughout the territory of the province. The OAK militants viewed the NATO missile and bomb attacks as air support for their actions. OAK representatives worked closely with NATO headquarters. They regularly provided data on objects that need to be subjected to air strikes, installed radio beacons issued to them by NATO to indicate targets. The OAK was regularly supplied with weapons and ammunition through the countries bordering Yugoslavia. In NATO countries, a campaign was launched to recruit volunteers to participate in the operation. Thousands of citizens of the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy of Kosovar origin were sent to Albania to participate in the fighting on the side of OAK. The gangs were actively replenished at the expense of refugees from Kosovo. Their training camps are mainly located in Albania. There is a real danger of drawing the republics of the former SFRY, in particular Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Macedonia, into the conflict. Of particular concern is the direct involvement of Macedonian citizens in the fighting in Kosovo. "Mobilization measures" are being held under the slogan of defending the common cause of all Albanians, regardless of their place of residence. For example, as part of the measures to retrain, reorganize and strengthen OAK units conducted under the guidance of Western instructors, facts of transferring Macedonian youth of military age to training centers in northern Albania were registered. This work is coordinated by the party structures of the Albanian political bloc in Macedonia.

NATO, as it turned out, did not plan its actions for the long term, as stated by US President B. Clinton: "When we started this campaign, no one expected that air strikes would last more than one week." In addition, recent regional conflicts have shown that Western public opinion is ready to support only those actions for which you do not have to pay with the lives of your military personnel and a lot of money.

Time will tell whether the Balkan tragedy will turn out to be a bitter sobering up and a return to non-violent methods, or the final destruction of the current world order, when humanity faces a "cold war" and the growing threat of a thermonuclear catastrophe. One thing is certain. The great bloodshed in the Balkans, with which NATO celebrated its anniversary, is a shameful page in the biography of the alliance and a terrible warning to many peoples of the world. These are just some aspects of the Kosovo drama. About others-in the next issues of the magazine.

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