The 1999 intervention “was not against the Serbian people” but to stop the “unacceptable actions of the Milosevic regime”, Stoltenberg said of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation airstrikes against Serbia during the Serbia-Kosovo conflict. Montenegro was part of Yugoslavia along with much-larger Serbia.
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Stoltenberg added that foreign ministers of the 28 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member-states will meet on December 1 and 2 and decide whether Montenegro will be invited to join, adding, “no third country has the right to try to intervene in this process”. He warned that “if any effect, Russian interference more likely will reinforce our interest to invite Montenegro to become a full member of the alliance”.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has lifted its 16-year restriction on Serbian air space, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.
“We believe in the long run, that the only way to stabilise those regions and to really fight the root causes of terrorism, is to be able to enable countries in the region to fight terrorism and to stabilise the whole region”, Stoltenberg told a news conference in Belgrade.
He said his visit marked a new page in NATO-Serbian relations.
Vucic expressed his readiness to cooperate with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, despite disagreements over the blame for the 1999 bombing campaign against Serbia and bad relations in the past.
“Any loss of innocent lives in 1999 was a tragedy and I deeply regret it”, Stoltenberg said.
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Prime Minister Vucic said that KFOR has made a crucial contribution to protecting Serbian churches and monasteries, but also “represents the key of stability also in northern Kosovo and Metohija precisely because of the contract that was signed in Brussels”.
