Yevgeny Primakov, who chaired the Russian Cabinet of ministers when the North Atlantic Alliance attacked Yugoslavia, feels that without the NATO raids on Belgrade there would have been no invasion of Iraq. Primakov was speaking in a televised interview that marked the 10th anniversary of the NATO raids on Belgrade.
Russia said in no uncertain terms a decade ago that it opposed the western attack on Yugoslavia. What prime minister Primakov did left no doubt about its position. Primakov was flying to the United States of America ten years ago today. As soon as he learned about the first bombing raid on Belgrade, he gave orders for a U-turn in the sky over the Atlantic. This is what he has to say about his interrupted flight to America:
«It was a normal move by someone who does not want his visit to be taken for a sign of encouragement. I called Vice President Albert Gore on the phone while flying over the Atlantic to tell him his country was making a very big mistake. I said they would wish they had never done what they were doing. You cannot disregard the United Nations, I said. He told me they had to do what they were doing. Tried to explain their decision. But I thought his arguments failed to reflect reality. And then he asked me to put my signature next to his under a decision to reschedule my visit. I said “no, I refuse to do this. If you want to, you can announce I ordered my plane back because you had decided to bomb Yugoslavia».
Ex-prime minister Primakov is dead sure the unauthorized raids on Belgrade were inadmissible.
Those bombing raids had to be averted. They opened a way to the American operation in Iraq. Another operation that was never authorized by the United Nations. All moves are interconnected. If those bombing raids had been averted, the world would be different.
Primakov acted as a witness for the defense when Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic faced the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. And he still explains the Tribunal’s decision to turn down Milosevic’s request for medical treatment in Russia by hope Milosevic might die before the end of the court hearings.
Primakov refuses to see the political results of the NATO raids on the former Yugoslavia as fair or long-living. He expects the northern, Serb-populated, part of Kosovo to eventually join Serbia. Regional stability is hard to attain, he says, it demands continued financial injections, foreign presence and some other things.
