Disinformation by the Russian ambassador in Belgrade on the number of casualties in 1999: NATO bombing caused the death of more than 2500 people

Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandar Bocan Harchenko said last week at the Russian House in Belgrade at a conference entitled “NATO aggression 25 years later”, organised by the Immortal Regiment of Serbia Foundation, that he did not expect that the West could suddenly change its position and realise that they had committed aggression, caused great material damage and caused thousands of human losses.

As for the number of casualties, Harchenko has disinformed the public, and he is consciously using manipulation and propaganda, which the Serbian authorities are using to cover up the real reasons that led to the NATO intervention.

The data on the thousands of victims in Serbia are most often used for political, nationalist and other purposes, so as not to arouse hatred of NATO among citizens, since the country’s policy proclaims military neutrality.

What did Bocan- Harchenko say?

“We do not expect to be able to suddenly change the position of the West, to recognise aggression, to acknowledge responsibility that they have not taken and to pay the price that they should have paid for it. And the damage is about $100 billion – mainly to civilian infrastructure, and the casualties have been many,” the Russian ambassador said. The NATO bombing reportedly caused the deaths of more than 2,500 people, including 87 children, and $100 billion in damage.”

https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/natbm002.pdf

Analysis:

The NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia began on 24 March 1999 following numerous reports of human rights violations and violence by the Serbian army and police against the Albanian population. The bombardment ended with the signing of the so-called Kumanovo Agreement on 9 June 1999, followed by the withdrawal of the Serbian army and police from Kosovo.

25 years later, Serbia has yet to release official figures on the direct victims of the bombing. This is why the media manipulate information that NATO was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the bombing that “2500 lives will not be forgotten”.

Sonja Biserko, President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, told Belgrade’s Danas in 2019 that accurate data on the number of victims was published on the Foreign Ministry’s website, but was deleted when Russian interests began to penetrate the Balkans.

https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/vlast-manipulise-brojem-zrtava-bombardovanja/

“Russia is using the NATO intervention as an issue in Serbia to strengthen its influence. In the years after the bombing, there was not so much emphasis on commemorating the bombing, but since 2013 this has suddenly changed and it is the Russians who are leading this turn. They are giving themselves the role of Serbia’s saviours, but in reality the Balkans are their pocket money”, says Biserko, adding that “Russia’s influence on Serbia means that the Balkans will never be saved”.

Despite the manipulations, there is a source that is considered official and gives an approximate number of casualties.

Based on material from the Belgrade District Prosecutor’s Office and for the purposes of indicting 14 NATO leaders and officials, Dusan Vrućinić published data on direct NATO casualties in 2007 in a monograph entitled “Serbia’s Demographic Losses after the 20th Century Wars”.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/04/no-justicia-victimas-bombardeos-otan-20090423/

His research showed that there were 699 victims. The other victims, 1 478, are actually people who were injured in the bombing, hence the political, media and propaganda manipulation of NATO casualty figures.

The casualty figures can be found in numerous publications.

According to Human Rights Watch, a human rights organisation, between 488 and 527 civilians died in the bombing of FR Yugoslavia. Amnesty International also puts the figure at around 500 civilians. It is estimated that some 495 civilians were killed and 820 wounded.

According to the Humanitarian Law Trust (FHP), a total of 754 people have lost their lives in NATO attacks, 454 civilians and 300 members of the armed forces. Among the civilians, 207 are of Serbian and Montenegrin nationality, 219 Albanian civilians, 14 Roma civilians and 14 other nationalities.

https://muzejgenocida.rs/images/izdanja/Vrucunic,%20Dusan,%20Demografski%20gubici%20Srbije%20prouzrokovani%20ratovima%20u%20XX%20veku.pdf

/The Geopost