Q:
A:
Sutanovac lays wreath
Belgrade,
24 March 2008
Serbian Minister of Defence Dragan Sutanovac laid a wreath today in Zemun at the memorial to members of the air force who were killed during the NATO attack on Yugoslavia in 1999.
Author:
Tanjug
Wreaths were also laid by family members of those killed to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the NATO air attacks, in which 41 pilots and other members of the air force were killed. The Minister talked with the families and also met with pilots who on this day, nine years ago, were the first to defend the country.
On the anniversary of perhaps the saddest day in the modern history of our nation, I wanted to meet the distinguished pilots who were among the first to defend the homeland, said the Minister.
He said that the NATO decision to launch air attacks against Yugoslavia will be remembered as the darkest decision in the modern history of this military alliance.
I hope that the events of nine years ago will be enough of a lesson for us to make us think in a more political and less military style in the future, and to know that 100 years of negotiations are better than one day of war, said Sutanovac.
Former commander of the 127th Air Force Fighter Squadron, Colonel Nebojsa Djukanovic, who led this unit which was the first one to be engaged in defence, recalled that 15 flights in MIG-29’s were carried out then.
Djukanovic said that six planes were destroyed in the air, four more planes were destroyed on the ground later, and the five planes which survived are currently being repaired and modernised.
He recalled that two pilots were killed on that occasion – Major Zoran Radosavljevic and Colonel Milenko Pavlovic.
On the anniversary of perhaps the saddest day in the modern history of our nation, I wanted to meet the distinguished pilots who were among the first to defend the homeland, said the Minister.
He said that the NATO decision to launch air attacks against Yugoslavia will be remembered as the darkest decision in the modern history of this military alliance.
I hope that the events of nine years ago will be enough of a lesson for us to make us think in a more political and less military style in the future, and to know that 100 years of negotiations are better than one day of war, said Sutanovac.
Former commander of the 127th Air Force Fighter Squadron, Colonel Nebojsa Djukanovic, who led this unit which was the first one to be engaged in defence, recalled that 15 flights in MIG-29’s were carried out then.
Djukanovic said that six planes were destroyed in the air, four more planes were destroyed on the ground later, and the five planes which survived are currently being repaired and modernised.
He recalled that two pilots were killed on that occasion – Major Zoran Radosavljevic and Colonel Milenko Pavlovic.
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