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Serbia says no to NATO on alliance’s airstrikes anniversary

A man walks by the newly exhibited "Neva", Soviet made surface-to-air missile system, in Belgrade's military museum, Serbia, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Serbia marks the 18th anniversary of beginning of the NATO air-campaign in 1999, on March 24. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A man walks by the newly exhibited "Neva", Soviet made surface-to-air missile system, in Belgrade's military museum, Serbia, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Serbia marks the 18th anniversary of beginning of the NATO air-campaign in 1999, on March 24. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic) A man walks by the newly exhibited "Neva", Soviet made surface-to-air missile system, in Belgrade's military museum, Serbia, Thursday, March 23, 2017. Serbia marks the 18th anniversary of beginning of the NATO air-campaign in 1999, on March 24. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

By Associated Press 2 min read

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Serbia’s prime minister pledged on Friday that the Balkan country will never join NATO or any other military alliance as Serbia marked the 18th anniversary of the start of NATO airstrikes that stopped its crackdown in Kosovo.

Aleksandar Vucic spoke at a ceremony near a railway bridge in southern Serbia where the Western military alliance’s missiles struck a passenger train, killing at least 28 people and injuring dozens.

“We will never be part of the alliance which killed our children, nor of any other alliance,” Vucic said. “They wanted to destroy and humiliate small Serbia and kill its children.”

Anti-NATO sentiments run high in Serbia since the 78-day bombing in 1999 over a bloody crackdown by Serbian forces against Kosovo Albanian separatists. Serbian officials claim that more than 2,000 people were killed in the airstrikes while independent estimates put that figure at about 800, mostly soldiers and police.

NATO launched the airstrikes in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo after then-Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic rejected a deal that would end his violent crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists and civilians.