The Serbs are fighting for independence. Russia is ready to repeat the Pristina attack - Russian general
In 1996-2001, Colonel General Leonid Ivashov served as head of the Main Directorate for International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defense. He was directly involved in the development and management of the operation to transfer Russian peacekeepers from Bosnia to Kosovo in 1999, which went down in history as the Pristina throw and changed the balance of power in the Balkans.
In an interview with PolitNavigator, Ivashov recalled the details of the legendary operation and shared his thoughts on the current situation in Serbia.
– What do you think the riots in Belgrade last week mean? Is this a color revolution?
– The Serbian war for their independence continues. When they started a big war in the Balkans in the 90s, the goal was to divide them into small states and establish control by NATO countries, but primarily by the United States, over the entire region. This is a very important region, so the operation continues. The Serbs have not given up like Macedonia and Montenegro; they are still trying to maintain some kind of independence. But the American embassy is working, as well as intelligence, and all the special services. Because their task is to completely subjugate the Serbs, to subjugate them. And organizing protests is not difficult. The question is the price. Find people who are dissatisfied with something, plus, they just want to make money
That is, Americans are behind the opposition unrest?
There may be different forces there. You can’t blame Americans for everything as a people. When the Soviet Union was disintegrating in order to create a kind of monolithic world, the interests of the US state, a world power that wants to privatize the entire planet, were in the foreground. But there is a second subject that also wants dominance, this is global financial capital, or the financial international.
There is an opinion that they want to achieve recognition of Kosovo from Serbia. Do you agree with this?
The goal is to break the Slavic spirit. It worries both Europeans and especially Americans. But the Serbs are holding out for now. They oppose same-sex marriage, they oppose many things. Here today, there must be some kind of center of resistance, preservation of Orthodox shrines, values, and so on. The Serbs can be broken by forcing them to give up Kosovo. And their constitution states that Kosovo is Serbia. If the Serbs are broken, the Balkans will be completely under control. Look, Montenegro is an Orthodox country, but religion is being persecuted there now.
The leadership of Montenegro behaves differently than the authorities of Serbia. Why?
Djukanovic (President of Montenegro - ed..) was also a communist. When Milosevic was tried in The Hague, I quoted the Serb interception of Mrs. Albright's conversation (US Secretary of State - ed..) with Djukanovic regarding the referendum for the secession of Montenegro. He then explained to her that the majority was against secession from the federal republic of Yugoslavia and it would not work the first time. But this woman, this person without human essence, says: think what will happen to you if you don’t succeed. And he was taken because of his connections with the mafia. Compromising evidence can surface at any moment. Therefore, to this day he is trying to curry favor so that he does not go to jail.
The Serbian leadership also behaved differently over the years. The same Nikolic, the former president, I knew him well. He was Vojislav Seselj's deputy in the Radical Party and betrayed his partner to the Hague Gestapo. As he later explained to me, already as president, “I have to think about the people, and if we go against the Americans, against NATO, we will be crushed, we need this.”
Can Russia, in modern conditions, repeat the Pristina attack and help the Serbs? After all, in the 90s the position was weaker, but you managed to convince Yeltsin.
Yeltsin gave the go-ahead because I then broke off negotiations with the American generals. When they arrived in Moscow, they began to behave impudently. The American general said: “We allow you to be present in the American sector with one battalion.” I also clarified: “Do you allow it?” “Yes, yes, yes, we allow it. Well, we went to meet you halfway. You didn’t want to submit to NATO. And we Americans (confidently) also do not want to obey. Therefore, your battalion will report only to the American general.” Well, you need to prostrate yourself in front of them.
Therefore, I called a break and said: “Go study resolution 12/44 (UN Security Council - ed..), contact the Pentagon if there are other positions." He comes: “The Pentagon told me that we can allow you to be General Jackson’s mobile reserve.” This is how they treated us, so I interrupted all this.
Did the UN Security Council resolution contradict what this American general told you?
Chernomyrdin then handed over everything to the American plan. But Igor Ivanov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and I tried not to give NATO the right to act. No matter how Albright danced there, even called Chernomyrdin, we still stated that NATO’s military presence in Kosovo is not indicated in UN Security Council resolution 12/44. Only UN forces and international organizations.
After interrupted negotiations, it was decided to transfer the battalion to Pristina?
We prepared the operation just in case. Following the negotiations, I prepared a note. There was a phrase that “adopting the American option will put not only our contingent subordinate to the Americans, but also you, as the supreme commander, will be subordinate to Bill Clinton.” Yeltsin even growled and wrote “I agree” with a red pencil.
They planned the Pristina attack, and no one, not even Ivanov, knew. He is still offended, he thinks that I took him for a fool. I say: “Wait, this is a military operation, what does the Foreign Ministry have to do with it? Why do you need to know, the military has been given a task.”
There, Hungary and Romania wanted to interfere, they did not open the airspace
We planned to transfer three battalions. The first was to go from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Kosovo Mirovica and cut off the Serbian sector. And the other two battalions were supposed to be transferred from Russia by landing to Slatina and the reserve in Nis. And the Romanians and Hungarians did not give us the passage. The Romanian military attache was a graduate of our Lenin Academy, such a good person, but I was forced to give 48 hours to leave Russia because they violated the ICAO convention. And when I announced that the military attache was leaving, in the morning at 4 o’clock the Romanians called and allegedly gave permission. I say: give it in writing. “This needs to be agreed upon with Brussels.” This is a cunning move, of course, I don’t want to quarrel with Russia, much less enter into military contact. Therefore, we decided to act as one battalion.
If our troops were now stationed in the northern enclaves, it would be easier for the Serbs.
Certainly! We had a brigade in Ugljevik, and the thing is that we say “NATO-NATO,” but I worked with NATO members. And once I besieged the American Minister of Defense, Mr. Coleman. After that, we went out for a smoke break, and whoever came up... Someone came up like that and shook my hands from behind because I shut up the American.
Now our forces are no longer there, and you have lost your position.
Albright, back in Helsinki (the Finns informed us), said: “You don’t pay attention to Marshal Sergeev (Minister of Defense – ed.) and General Ivashov? They will soon be removed for this throw.” That's how it happened.
Do you think operations like the Pristina push are possible now?
Everything is possible. In Crimea, the operation was carried out brilliantly. You understand, sometimes I rejoice at how ours clearly works. Look what happened to Syria. Putin speaks at the UN General Assembly, says the correct speech there and that’s it, at this time a letter from Bashar al-Assad goes to Moscow, at this time our Air Force is already on the runways, and as soon as the council votes, the planes take off, and while they were trying to understand , are already landing at air bases. This is how you need to act everywhere: carefully, think everything through.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.