On Sunday, Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia addressed the Serbian people on the anniversary of the NATO bombing of Serbia. In his remarks, the Crown Prince spoke of those affected by the bombing and criticised NATO’s operations during the war in the Balkans.

Crown Prince Alexander’s statement:

“Twenty years later Serbia is still trying hard to recover from the appalling bombing on the people, our country and destroyed infrastructure. With great sadness we remember the terrible aggression and suffering imposed upon all our citizens, our country, and those that were tragically killed and their families. This was an unprecedented event of total aggression in Europe since World War Two that was not authorized by the United Nations. Once again, regrettably, it is confirmed that violence only produces more violence and pain.

Many years have passed, victims will always be remembered. Such aggression must never happen again. Lives that were lost, as well as the many injured must never be forgotten. Let them remain in our hearts forever”.

Crown Prince Alexander talked about this subject when he was interviewed by Royal Central in 2017(you can Read the whole interview with the Serbian Crown Prince here). While discussing the establishment of democracy in Serbia, the Crown Prince said: “So I met the democratic opposition, and I became friends with the future prime minister, Mr Zoran Đinđić. And then I implemented, after the bombing here, which was criminal, I implemented meetings, conferences in Budapest, in Bosnia, Athens, and the last one was organised by Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.”

The NATO bombing of Serbia and Yugoslavia was a military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. NATO launched this campaign without UN authorisation, describing it as a humanitarian intervention.

The bombing killed between 489 and 528 civilians and destroyed bridges, industrial plants, public buildings, private businesses, as well as barracks and military installations. The NATO bombing marked the second major combat operation in its history, following the 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the first time that NATO had used military force without the approval of the UN Security Council.