DISINFO: About two thousand civilians were killed in NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia
SUMMARY
From March 24 to June 9, 1999, Serbia and Montenegro, then part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, were bombed by NATO. The official reason for Operation Allied Force was the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, as a result of the bombing, about two thousand civilians were killed, among them dozens of children. Thousands of civilian objects were also destroyed, soil and water contaminated in several areas.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the number of civilian casualties of NATO bombing, previously debunked by Polygraph.
According to the Humanitarian Law Center, in Serbia (excluding Kosovo) and Montenegro, 275 persons lost their lives in the NATO bombings: 180 civilians, 90 members of the Yugoslav Army (YA) and five members of the Serbian Ministry of Interior (MUP). In Kosovo, 484 people were killed: 267 civilians (209 Albanian and 58 non-Albanian), 171 members of the Yugoslav Army (YA), 20 members of the Serbian Ministry of Interior (MUP) and 26 members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) (19 of whom died in the NATO bombing of the Dubrava prison, near Istok).
Human Rights Watch assessed that as few as 489 and as many as 528 Yugoslav civilians were killed in the ninety separate incidents in Operation Allied Force.
The primary purpose of the campaign was to end violence and repression and force Slobodan Milosevic, the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), to withdraw his military, police and para-military forces from Kosovo (see NATO statement from 1999).
Read similar disinformation about the war in former Yugoslavia alleging that around 2500 people were killed in NATO’s bombing campaign and that There is no accurate list of all the victims even after 20 years since the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.