Statement by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council on the anniversary of the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vienna, March 23, 2017
(World News Russia)

Mr Chairman, On March 24, 1999, a group of OSCE member states, who were also members of the North Atlantic Alliance, began the barbaric bombing of a sovereign state, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This act of aggression was in gross violation of the UN Charter, the provisions of the Helsinki Final Act, the generally recognised norms of international law and the UN Security Council resolutions on the Kosovo settlement. The carnage in Yugoslavia was a show of force and a case of lawless behaviour on behalf of NATO with respect to this Balkan state, which did not pose any military threat to any of its neighbours. The barbarous bombing of peaceful towns and villages in a sovereign European...