25 years ago, the US and NATO showed the whole world what 'humanitarian intervention' really is, what 'American democracy' is, with rocket-bombing attacks on military and civilian facilities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, said Russian Ambassador to Montenegro Vladislav Maslenikov.
He said this in Tivat, speaking at the ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the start of NATO intervention in the former FRY, where he laid a wreath on the graves of Marko Avramović and Dragan Bjelanović from Tivat at the Brdišta city cemetery.
In 1999, Avramović was killed during the bombing of FRY as a member of the 63rd Parachute Brigade of the Yugoslav Army, and Bjelonović as a member of the MUP of Serbia in Kosovo.
In addition to the Russian ambassador, wreaths were laid by the President of the Municipality of Tivat Željko Komnenović, representatives of OBNOR Tivat, NGO Miholjski Zbor, Brotherhood of Serbian Orthodox Youth St. Panteleimon Tivat, and members of the Association of Armenians of Montenegro attended the ceremony.
Addressing the audience, Maslenikov said that in 1999, "the US and NATO military operation towards Belgrade took place without the approval of the UN Security Council, under the pretext of reckless accusations by the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 'ethnic cleansing' in the Kosovo-Metohija autonomy, where they allegedly caused humanitarian disaster in the region".
"The US and NATO have shown the sound of freedom that NATO planes carry - in 11 weeks, they fired three thousand cruise missiles at a sovereign European state, dropped 80 thousand tons of aerial bombs, including cluster grenades and depleted uranium ammunition, which is now being used in our region. The barbaric bombing claimed the lives of nearly 2,5 thousand people, including 89 children. Russia immediately condemned the alliance's military operation against Yugoslavia. Yevgeny Primakov, then the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, canceled a visit to the US and turned his plane over the Atlantic. And then , and now, we consider this operation of the alliance to be the grossest violation of the norms of international law," said Maslenikov, whose country, for two years without a formal declaration of war and contrary to international law, has been attacking and destroying another sovereign state - Ukraine.
"We know that some Western ambassadors today are telling Montenegrin and Serbian politicians 'forget it, that was a long time ago'. But we know that today in the former republics of Yugoslavia, events like this take place under the slogan 'Let's not forget'. Russia is firmly committed to Resolution 1244 of the Security Council of the UN and will never forget that Kosovo is the territory of Serbia," underlined the Russian ambassador.
The mayor of Tivat, Željko Komnenović, said that for years, together with the families of the fallen Avramović and Bjelanović, "we cultivate a culture of memory and remember their heroic act, because the greatest value is giving your life for your homeland, and that's exactly what they did".
"It is a special honor and pleasure for us today that the ambassador of the Russian Federation in Montenegro, Mr. Maslenikov, is among us, to whom I officially express my condolences on the occasion of the unprecedented terrorist act in Moscow. We also remember their victims, because that act of terrorism is a continuation of all that what we have been seeing on the global political level for the past 30 years," Komnenović pointed out.
On behalf of the organizers of this commemorative gathering, the Association of Veterans of the 63rd Parachute Brigade VJ, Miajlo Backović addressed the attendees.
"Here lie the warriors who defended truth and justice in 1999 and what needed to be defended, no matter how today's politics view it. Not a single fighter in Kosovo and Metohija, nor in Serbia and Montenegro, calculated at that moment and he did not question why he was going to get the rifle. We all knew that we had to defend the sanctuary with our great holy ancestors. The two - one in police, one in military uniform also took their cross and started on their way, not regretting their life and their both Marko and Dragan physically gave their lives for that shrine, on whose foundations we stand today, not on graves, but on the foundations of freedom and role models and models for our future generations," said Backović.
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