the West had a lot of leverage over Yeltsin – Kommersant

25 years ago, Western countries had a lot of leverage over then Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The current head of state, Vladimir Putin, said this when commenting on Russia’s withdrawal from Kosovo in the documentary film “Belgrade.” The film was shown on the Rossiya-1 TV channel on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the start of the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO forces, which is celebrated on March 24.

“Well, there were a lot of levers. Russia was in a rather weak state and was dependent on various kinds of financial instruments and mechanisms, on political and internal political ones,” said Vladimir Putin (quoted by “RIA News”). According to the president, at that moment Russia lost part of its sovereignty.

On March 24, 1999, NATO planes began bombing Yugoslavia without the permission of the UN Security Council. The operation, which lasted 11 days, was called “Allied Force”. More than 2 thousand civilians and 1 thousand military personnel became victims of the operation. More than 5 thousand people were injured, more than 1 thousand were missing.

Alexandra Goroshilova