{"id":12578,"date":"2025-04-04T13:39:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T11:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/?p=12578"},"modified":"2025-04-07T15:19:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T13:19:01","slug":"diskurs-dezinformues-i-zyrtareve-ruse-mbi-bombardimet-e-nato-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/disinfo\/diskurs-dezinformues-i-zyrtareve-ruse-mbi-bombardimet-e-nato-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Disinformation Discourse of Russian Officials on NATO\u2019s Bombing Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent article published by the pro-Kremlin media outlet \u201c<\/span>TASS<\/span><\/a>\u201d attempts to reinforce false narratives about NATO's intervention in the former Yugoslavia in 1999, portraying it as a \"barbaric\" and \"colonial\" attack on Serbia. The statements included in the article by Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia\u2019s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), not only misinterpret the historical context of the intervention but also employ emotional rhetoric to fuel anti-NATO sentiments and downplay the crimes committed by Slobodan Milosevic\u2019s regime during the Kosovo war.<\/p>\n

The article claims that NATO\u2019s operation \u201c<\/span>caused numerous casualties and infrastructural destruction<\/span><\/i>\u201d and describes the intervention as an <\/span>\u201catrocity\u201d<\/span><\/i> against Serbia.<\/p>\n

But the facts show that <\/span>NATO's -<\/span><\/a>goal was to stop ethnic cleansing. Operation \u201cAllied Force\u201d was launched after the failure of diplomatic efforts and in response to documented evidence of mass crimes committed by Serbian forces against Albanian civilians in Kosovo. By March 1999, over 500,000 Kosovo Albanians had been forcibly displaced from their homes, and thousands had been killed. A Human Rights Watch <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> found that more than 500 Albanian villages were systematically destroyed, and many civilians were killed by Serbian forces during the conflict.<\/p>\n

Additionally, both UNHCR and the <\/span>OSCE<\/span><\/a> documented mass deportations, executions, and systematic rape.<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s targets<\/span><\/a> were military and strategic infrastructure, not civilians. Civilian casualties occurred under complex wartime circumstances and, as noted in international <\/span>reports<\/span><\/a>, were often a result of the Serbian military using civilian infrastructure for military purposes.<\/p>\n

The article attempts to portray NATO\u2019s intervention as part of a \"colonial\" campaign, reinforcing the long-standing Russian narrative that depicts the West as an aggressor.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the intervention was based on broad international humanitarian concerns. Although it was not approved by the UN Security Council due to vetoes from Russia and China, <\/span>NATO\u2019s<\/span><\/a> intervention was widely seen as necessary to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. Subsequently, the <\/span>UN<\/span><\/a> established an international administration for Kosovo through Resolution 1244. Kosovo declared independence on February 17, 2008, and has since been recognized by over 115 countries, including the United States and most EU member states.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, in 2010, the <\/span>International Court of Justice (ICJ) <\/span><\/a> ruled that Kosovo\u2019s declaration of independence did not violate international law.<\/p>\n

Another false narrative propagated by TASS is the claim that Serbia is suffering from cancer due to NATO\u2019s use of depleted uranium. The article alleges that <\/span>\u201cNATO dropped 15 tons of depleted uranium\u201d<\/span><\/i> and that Serbia \u201c<\/span>ranks first in Europe for cancer-related diseases.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

However, a 2001 UNEP report<\/span><\/a> on Kosovo, where NATO airstrikes also took place, concluded that \u201c<\/span>there is no immediate threat to human health or the environment from depleted uranium in Kosovo.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Serbia does not rank first in Europe for cancer-related diseases. According to data from the <\/span>Global Cancer Observatory<\/span><\/a> (GCO) and the <\/span>European Commission<\/span><\/a>, countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and Ireland have higher cancer rates per capita.<\/p>\n

The TASS article is a classic example of Russian-style disinformation, in which historical events are distorted to justify today\u2019s geopolitical narratives, incite hatred toward the West, and divert attention from Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine and its neighboring countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

This article deliberately conceals the true context of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and the failed peace efforts that preceded NATO\u2019s intervention.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*This article is published as part of the Western Balkans Regional Initiative against disinformation.<\/em>\u00a0\u201cWestern Balkans Anti-Disinformation Hub: exposing malign influences through watchdog journalism.\u201d<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nj\u00eb artikull i fundit i publikuar s\u00eb fundi nga media pro-Kremlinit, \u201cTASS\u201d, tenton t\u00eb p\u00ebrforcoj\u00eb narrativat e rreme mbi nd\u00ebrhyrjen e NATO-s n\u00eb vitin 1999 n\u00eb ish-Jugosllavi, duke e portretizuar at\u00eb si nj\u00eb sulm \u201cbarbar\u201d dhe \u201ckolonial\u201d ndaj Serbis\u00eb. Deklaratat e p\u00ebrfshira n\u00eb artikull t\u00eb Sergey Naryshkin, shef i Sh\u00ebrbimit t\u00eb Inteligjenc\u00ebs s\u00eb Jashtme t\u00eb […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1241,363],"tags":[1069,637,2482,1239],"ppma_author":[28],"class_list":["post-12578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-debunking","category-disinfo","tag-disinfo","tag-nato","tag-osbe","tag-rusia"],"authors":[{"term_id":28,"user_id":18,"is_guest":0,"slug":"disinfo","display_name":"Disinfo","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sbunker_FAKE_NEWS_001-min1647858578.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Sbunker_FAKE_NEWS_001-min1647858578.jpg"},"user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"Disinfo","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12578"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12580,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12578\/revisions\/12580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12578"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=12578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}