Bosnian War: Causes. Armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbia and Bosnia conflict

Armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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The phase of armed confrontation caused by the rapid disintegration of Yugoslavia, in addition to Slovenia and Croatia, also covered Bosnia and Herzegovina. And here the conflict took on the most violent character.
By the beginning of the 90s, the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina was more than 4 million people. Of these, 44% were Muslims of Slavic origin (mainly ethnic Serbs), 32% - Serbs, 17% - Croats. In addition to these three peoples, BiH was also inhabited by representatives of other nationalities - Turks, Albanians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Russians, etc. Muslims of Slavic origin were descendants of Serbs and Croats, who, back in the Middle Ages, during the Turkish yoke, could not withstand the oppression of Turkish authorities converted to Islam. The Ottoman Turks who converted to Islam exempted them from taxes and provided them with various benefits. In addition, the Porte used detachments of Muslim Slavs as a strike force during the suppression of numerous uprisings of the Christian population of the enslaved lands. According to various testimonies, the Slavs of the Muslim faith with particular zeal carried out the tasks of suppressing pockets of resistance to the Turkish administration. The life of a Serb or Croat who refused to convert to Islam was strikingly different from the life of a Muslim. At any moment, a Turkish soldier could enter the house of a Christian and take away anything, create with the family and property of those who refused to accept the new faith, any atrocity that remained unpunished. After the Russian-Turkish war of 1977-78. Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied by Austrian troops and then annexed by Austria-Hungary. After the defeat of the Central Powers in the First World War, BiH was incorporated into the Kingdom of the SHS. Beginning in 1918, Muslims were already being oppressed by the royal authorities. In 1941, after the rapid capture of Yugoslavia by German troops, BiH became part of the puppet NGH. The Serbian population of Bosnia and Herzegovina was terrorized by the Ustaše. Muslims, on the other hand, were declared by the Pavelić regime to be a "friendly" people. But they were also persecuted by the Chetniks. Many Muslims served in special units of the SS, and several thousand of them served in the SS division "Khanjar". It is worth noting that a large number of Muslims also joined the ranks of the communist partisans. After the end of World War II, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of Socialist Yugoslavia with the rights of a republic. It was during the time of Tito that the term "Muslim" began to be used as the name of a nationality. For example, in the passport, in the column "nationality" for many residents of BiH, a Muslim was recorded, and in the column "religion" - an atheist. Thus, Muslims began to be called representatives of a separate nation within Yugoslavia, the descendants of the Slavs who converted to Islam, and not just those who professed the Muslim religion. Also, a significant part of the citizens of the SFRY who lived in Bosnia, in the column of the passport indicating the nationality of the bearer, wrote “Yugoslav”. This concerned mainly mixed marriages.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a very complex ethnic map. Of its approximately one hundred communities, only ten are mono-ethnic. Eight communities are dominated by 80 to 90% of the population of one nationality. Muslims predominate in 49 communities, Serbs in 37, Croats in 20. But in many areas there were separate enclaves with a population of a different ethnic community. Thus, the settlement of ethnic groups has a more intricate system than in Slovenia and Croatia.
Our site offers small porn without registration and SMS. The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in the central part of the former SFRY. All transit routes that connect Serbia with Croatia and Slovenia pass through it. On the territory of the republic there are significant raw material resources that provided the former Yugoslavia with reserves of iron ore, brown coal, bauxite, asbestos, lead-zinc ores. More than a thousand small and large rivers flow on the territory of BiH, which provides the republic with a huge hydropower potential. There are also significant stocks of timber, which accounted for most of the total Yugoslav forest resources. BiH was of great importance in the military-strategic sense. On its territory there was a huge number of reserve command posts, as well as military bases - tank, aviation and missile. Also, most of the Yugoslav military plants for the repair of rocket launchers, tank, artillery, aviation equipment, and military equipment were located on the territory of the republic.

Destroyed suburb of Sarajevo during fighting between Serbian and Muslim troops

After the fall of the communist regime, demarcation began in the republic along the national principle. Various referendums, the adoption of documents, in particular on independence, were held within each of the communities. Some researchers consider the impossibility of representatives of three ethnic groups to agree peacefully on the future structure of the republic as the reasons for the start of the war in BiH. Some believe that the armed conflict in Bosnia was a continuation of the struggle between Serbia and Croatia, in which they pursued their interests. In their opinion, Serbia, which could not come to terms with the sovereignty of the outgoing republic, began to support the Republic of Srpska proclaimed among the Serbian population. Croatia also supported the Croatian community on the territory of BiH, which, like the RS, wanted to secede from the republic. Unlike the Serbs and Croats, the Muslim authorities sought to maintain the united borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For Serbia, control over BiH with its numerous military bases, airfields and transport interchanges was of great military and strategic importance. Thus, according to some reports, in 1991-92, the JNA carried out the transfer of troops from Serbia and Montenegro to Croatia, in particular through the territory of BiH. And from the airfield in Banja Luka, JNA planes were rising to bombard Croatian targets.
On October 14, 1991, the Assembly of BiH adopted a memorandum of independence and a platform on the situation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the future structure of the Yugoslav community. The memorandum noted that Bosnia and Herzegovina would not agree to any decision on the future structure of the Yugoslav community if Serbia and Croatia were not there at the same time. It was pointed out that BiH should remain neutral in relation to the events in Croatia, that its citizens would not act on either side, and the territory of the republic would not be used by any external force for its own purposes. Territorially, the republic was declared united and indivisible. BiH was declared a sovereign democratic state of Muslims, Serbs, Croats and other nationalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the memorandum of independence and the platform on the position of BiH were adopted after the agenda of the Assembly of BiH was declared exhausted and the Serbian deputies left the meeting room. This, of course, gave the Serbs a reason to disagree with the decisions of the Assembly.
In November 1991, a plebiscite was held in the Serbian communities, at which the Serbs spoke in favor of remaining part of Yugoslavia. And already in December, the leadership of BiH applied to the EU Council of Ministers for the recognition of this republic by the countries of the European Community. The next day, the Assembly of the Serbian People in BiH voted for the creation of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, if Muslims and Croats vote for the secession of BiH from the SFRY. In turn, the leadership of BiH recognized the results of the Serbian plebiscite as illegal, and on January 9, 1992, the Assembly of the Serbian people of BiH recognized the independence of the Republic of Serbian Bosnia and Herzegovina. Authorities were formed - the Assembly, the Presidium, the government. The leaders of the RS motivated this decision with the right of the Serbian people to self-determination. In their opinion, in an independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbs would become a national minority against the backdrop of Muslims and Croats. The Serbs also believed that since BiH could not be kept within Yugoslavia, it meant that the republic should be reorganized into a confederal or federative association of three national republics. On February 28, 1992, the Assembly of the RS adopted a constitution, which stated that the republic included the territories of autonomous regions, communities, and other Serbian regions. The Republika Srpska, according to this constitution, was proclaimed a part of the federal Yugoslavia, still an old model, because. The FRY had not yet been formed. The capital of the RS was declared the city of Sarajevo, which was also the capital of BiH. Of course, the leadership of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, headed by A. Izitbegovic, recognized this act as illegal. On the other hand, it is necessary to note the role of the EU, which recommended holding a referendum on the sovereignty of the RS among all representatives of BiH, all its citizens, and not just Serbs. Thus, the situation heated up to the limit. The conflict was inevitable. The parties did not want to take into account the interests of each other, adopting laws, resolutions unilaterally. Taking into account the fact that the boundaries of ethnic territories were blurred, it was difficult to make a decision to delimit the residence of peoples in one or another newly formed state formation, there was a great temptation among many representatives of all sides without exception to solve the territorial problem by military means.
It seems that the decisive factor that contributed to the incitement of ethnic hatred on the territory of BiH was the US-EU Declaration of March 10, 1992 on the positive consideration of the issue of recognizing the independence of the Republic of BiH. Many researchers believe that one of the main reasons for the outbreak of hostilities is the haste of the US and the EU in this matter. Interestingly, in mid-March 1992, a meeting was held in Sarajevo between representatives of the three leading political parties of BiH - Serbian, Muslim and Croatian. Many tend to believe, in this regard, that the conflict could well have been resolved peacefully. On the other hand, one should not forget about the role of Serbia and Croatia, which solved their geopolitical tasks by influencing the representatives of their peoples living on the territory of BiH. Most of the decisions in the initial period of the crisis in BiH were made by the political leadership of the Bosnian Serbs and Croats directly on orders from Belgrade and Zagreb, respectively. A. Izetbegovic, and with him the Muslim leadership, did not make any compromises, striving for their only goal - the speedy recognition of the independence of BiH as a single state. In the future, the Sarajevo leadership intended to solve the problems of disputed territories and separatism of ethnic entities by force. The Serbian and Croatian leaders chose the same path, seeking to establish control over the territories that they considered “their own” with the help of weapons, and thereby present the EU with a fait accompli of the existence of separate territorial-ethnic entities. As early as the beginning of 1992, an active transfer of weapons and sabotage groups from Croatia to BiH began. The Croatian elite established contacts with local representatives of the CDU, promising them all-round assistance in the military sphere. Since April, units of the Croatian regular army began to be transferred to the territory of BiH. At this time, mass killings of the Serbian population by Croatian sabotage and terrorist groups began. Croatian forces made it their main task to isolate Western Herzegovina, the territory with a majority of the Croatian population, or Bosnian Krajina, from Serb areas in Eastern Bosnia. At the same time, the Muslim-Croatian union was already at the initial stage. On the territory of Croatia, in military centers, along with the Croats from BiH, Muslims were also trained. The genocide against the Serbian people began in the cities of Bosanski Brod, Kupres, Bugojno, Mostar. On April 6, 1992, the Presidium of the SFRY condemned the facts of the genocide of the Serbian people and the act of open aggression by the Croatian forces in Western Herzegovina. In turn, the Presidium of BiH on the same day announced the mobilization of the TO, civil defense and police forces.
Under these conditions, when the power in the republic did not belong to the republican center, and the Serbs and Croats actually got out of its control, when parts of the JNA remained on the territory of BiH, brought to full combat readiness, when the Croatian regular army invaded the western regions of the republic, the USA and the EU did the wrong thing. On April 7, 1992, they recognized the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hostilities were now unavoidable.
On April 10, the BiH Presidium decided to declare a state of military danger in the republic. On April 27, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed. On May 4, Belgrade announced its decision to withdraw JNA units from the territory of BiH. The withdrawal was supposed to be completed by May 18. The territory of BiH had to leave the military personnel of the JNA, who were not citizens of the republic. In turn, the leadership of the RS announced the formation of the army of the Republika Srpska on the basis of the JNA garrisons located in Bosnia. The commander of this army was General Ratko Mladic, who began to act independently of the Belgrade authorities.

Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic

However, it was not possible to withdraw the JNA troops without losses. Along the way of military columns, Muslims staged constant provocations, which often escalated into violent clashes with the use of weapons. The columns were shot, many units were blocked in the barracks, following the example of the Croatian events. The attack was carried out in most cases by the forces of the TO of the republic, which consisted mainly of Muslim fighters. Increasingly, irregular formations began to declare themselves in such actions. The most difficult situation has developed in Sarajevo, where the military units of the JNA were blocked and attacked by the government forces of the republic. Serb Sarailians also participated in the blockade, not wanting the soldiers of the South Army to leave the capital of BiH. During the withdrawal, the JNA column in Tuzla was completely shot, many soldiers died.
At the same time, in Sarajevo itself, riots and conflicts began between irregular formations, both on the part of Muslims and Serbs. The reason for the outbreak of violence was the shooting of a Serbian wedding by Muslims in broad daylight. Several Serbs were killed right on the steps of the church. The pretext was that there was a Serbian flag at the Serbian wedding. Riots spontaneously began to take place on the streets, barricades were built, and apartments in residential buildings, where a mostly mixed population lived, were vandalized. May 14, 1992 was the official date for the creation of the BiH army. A. Izitbegovic was declared commander-in-chief, the General Staff was headed by Sefer Halilovich, a former major of the JNA. After him, the General Staff was also headed by the former JNA officer Rasim Delic. On April 4, BiH government forces began hostilities. Mobilization was announced, and at the same time paramilitaries began to occupy the most important objects of the city. On April 5, 1992, up to 50 thousand citizens gathered near the building of the Assembly of BiH, demanding the creation of a government of national salvation, people did not want to be drawn into the war. However, snipers fired at the demonstration from the roof of the Holiday Inn, which was located next to the Assembly. 8 people were killed, Izitbegovic accused the Serbs of shelling. The situation turned into a catastrophic one. Oil was added to the fire by the recognition of the independence of BiH by the EU and the USA, which finally kindled the fire of a bloody conflict.
On May 27 and 30, the barracks in the center of Sarajevo came under mortar fire from the BiH TO forces. As a result, many civilians died. In response, on May 28, the Muslim quarters of the city were also subjected to artillery and rocket fire from Serbian troops commanded by Ratko Mladic. It is worth noting that the main victims in the hostilities around and inside Sarajevo itself were civilians. Approximately 60 thousand Serbs had a particularly hard time, who suffered from shelling by Serbian forces, and were also persecuted by Muslims. Many of the Serbs first joined the TO, and then the BiH army.
Throughout the republic, the scale of hostilities increased. Serbs, Croats, Muslims besieged enemy settlements, from which civilians suffered, first of all. Each side had its own motivation for fighting. The Muslims pursued their goal of creating a unitary state, and if not, then establishing control over the maximum number of territories, which would also include the Sarajevo region, the enclaves of Gorazde, Zepa and Srebrenica. The Serbs sought to establish power in territories with a majority Serb population, create an independent state, and then, after the military stage, secure the borders of the territories under their control through international agreements. The Croats sought to establish control over the territories of Western Herzegovina and strengthen the borders of the territories under their control.
Despite the fact that the FRY withdrew the JNA troops from the territory of BiH, on May 30, 1992, the UN Security Council decided to impose international sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro. These two republics were given the main responsibility for the conflict, especially after the shelling of Sarajevo by Mladic. It was also taken into account that the main part of the military equipment and weapons of the JNA remained at the disposal of the Republic of Serbian BiH. Prior to this, on May 15, UN Resolution No. 752 was adopted on the withdrawal from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina of all regular military formations Croatia. This resolution was simply ignored by the Croats, the Croatian units conducted full-scale military operations in BiH under the direct supervision of Zagreb. It should be noted that some of the equipment left by the JNA fell into the hands of the Croatian-Muslim forces. About 80,000 former soldiers of the South Army, who remained in Bosnia, joined the ranks of both Serbs and Muslims and Croats.
The armed forces of the opposing sides were strengthened, the clashes escalated into full-scale military operations. So-called ethnic cleansing began to be applied against the ethnic minority. First, the Croats and Muslims began to expel people from the territories of their residence, then the Serbs joined this activity. According to some reports, as a result of military clashes, according to the Republika Srpska, 200 thousand Serbs were expelled from 15 communities in BiH, 70 Serbian villages were burned, about 40 thousand Serbs were kept in 17 concentration camps (N. Vasilieva, V. Gavrilov. Balkan dead end ?.. M., 2000. p.371). In the regions of Prijedor, Banja Luka, Zvornik, Foca, the Serbian side also began to practice ethnic cleansing. The leadership of the RS, headed by Radovan Karadzic, denied in every possible way the existence of Serbian concentration camps for civilians, calling these facilities prisoner of war camps where representatives of the International Red Cross could come. Although Karadzic himself did not rule out cases of using inadequate violence and elements of revenge against prisoners of war or civilians. But they, in his opinion, were not of a mass nature, but were only isolated incidents.
On June 15, 1992, diplomatic relations were established between Croatia and BiH. The statement, signed by F. Tudjman and A. Izetbegovic, said that Croatia would support BiH in every possible way in its struggle for independence and provide comprehensive assistance to repel Serbian aggression. In response to this, the Presidium of the FRY accused Croatia of participating in the war in BiH and sent a corresponding memorandum to the UN Security Council.
Serbian forces launched a series of offensives in late June. Sarajevo was subjected to heavy rocket and artillery fire. The RS Army undertook a number of offensive actions in the areas of Bosanska Posavina, along the Sava valley. The operation carried out by the Serbs in the area was called "Corridor-92". Its purpose was to unite the Serbian communities located in the west and east in the region of Banja Luka. Between them there was the Posavino corridor, where the Croats mostly lived. These areas were separated from Croatia only by the Sava River. In the south, they bordered on the communities in which the majority of the Muslim population lived. The detachments of M.Martic and detachments of volunteers from the Republic of Serbian Krajina came to the aid of the Bosnian Serbs. The Serbian troops motivated their military actions by the struggle against fascism, against the Ustash, for “survival in the great-grandfather centers” (Guskova E.Yu. History of the Yugoslav crisis. M., 2000. p. 287). The offensive of the Serbian troops developed quite successfully. Despite resistance at certain points and artillery support of the enemy from the territory of Croatia, by October 7, 1992, Serbian troops were able to occupy Derventa, Brod, Kotresh, Belo-Brdo and reach the banks of the Sava. The Posavina corridor remained in the hands of the Serbs. Immediately after Operation Corridor-92, the RS Army undertook Operation Vrbas-92 to occupy the cities of Jaice, Srbobran and Turbe, the hydroelectric power stations Yaice-1 and Yaice-2.
In the summer of 1992, the Muslims held only 11% of the territory in their hands, the Croats had even a little more, as they were helped by the Croatian regular army. Everything else was in the hands of the Serbs, as D. Owen noted (Guskova E.Yu. History of the Yugoslav crisis ... p.287)
In turn, simultaneously with the beginning of the summer offensive of the Serbs, the Croats intensified their offensive operations and almost completely occupied the Herceg-Bosna region in the south of the republic (Western Herzegovina). CDU BiH leader M. Boban said that this territory would become an independent Croatian canton within the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The two opposing sides thus decided on the territorial division of BiH by creating Serbian and Croatian autonomous entities. On July 3, 1992, the Croatian state was proclaimed in BiH, headed by M. Boban. However, the union of Croats and Muslims was not strong. Rapprochement on certain issues of the future structure of BiH between the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs and Croats has been going on since the end of 1991. And on May 6, 1992, R. Karadzic and M. Boban met in Graz (Austria), at which the leaders of the self-proclaimed state formations on the territory of BiH agreed on a demarcation between the two ethnic groups. Such meetings caused a negative reaction not only from A. Izetbegovic, who sought to preserve the integrity of BiH, but also from representatives of the world community. The weakening of the Muslim-Croatian alliance contributed to the expansion of the territory controlled by the Serbs. By the autumn of 1992, they completely blockaded Sarajevo, and by the spring of 1993, about 70% of the territory of BiH was in the hands of the Serbs. The Muslims had no more than 10% of the territory, the Croats - 20% (N. Vasilyeva, V. Gavrilov. Balkan dead end ... p. 373). Charges against the government of A. Izetbegovic of spreading Islamic fundamentalism and striving to create an Islamic state began to be brought not only by Belgrade, Pale and Knin, but also by Zagreb. In early May, the Croats began ethnic cleansing of the territory of Herceg-Bosna from Muslims. The heaviest battles unfolded for the city of Mostar. The actions of the parties were of a violent nature, the horrors perpetrated by the warring parties - Muslims and Croats - against the civilian population could have been shocking. However, by that time, the world community had a certain “presumption of guilt” of the Serbs both in unleashing a war on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and in the most sinister manifestations in the form of ethnic cleansing and massacres of civilians. Therefore, close attention was only to manifestations of atrocities on their part, which were often attributed to the Serbs. At the same time, the BiH army responded to the actions of the Croatian troops by attacking the Croatian territories in Central Bosnia, where the situation was not in favor of the latter. During the fighting, the Muslims occupied the cities of Bugojno, Travnik, and Varesh.

Aliya Izetbegovic and NATO Commander-in-Chief in Europe Wesley Clark

Solidarity with the Muslims of BiH was shown by representatives of many Islamic countries. According to some information cited by E.Yu. Guskova, more than 2,000 professional soldiers from Malaysia, Pakistan, Algeria, Libya and other countries fought on the side of A. Izetbegovich's troops. Some researchers point to about 20,000 foreigners in the Muslim army. About 1 thousand volunteers joined the BiH army from Turkey. According to some estimates, the number of mercenaries in the Muslim army reached 20% of the personnel. The terrorist Islamic organization "Armed Islamic Movement", whose ideology was pan-Islamic solidarity, had a network of territorial and intelligence residencies in the Balkans. Militants of the "Armed Islamic Movement" were sent to Bosnia from the regional center in Tehran. From there, their equipment went to the Balkans. Among the mercenaries in the troops of Izetbegovic were "soldiers of fortune" from Great Britain, Germany, Italy and even Japan (Guskova E.Yu. History of the Yugoslav crisis ... p.279). According to the testimony of Russian volunteers who fought in the army of the RS, the armed forces of BiH also included citizens of the former USSR, not only Muslims, but also Slavs who fought for money and even had government awards from the Republic of BiH. Muslim mercenaries - the Mujahideen - showed particular cruelty towards the Croats and Serbs. The methods of killing people by the Mujahideen were striking in their sophistication. People gouged out eyes, cut off limbs, heads, impaled, burned alive. Among other things, mercenaries in the army of Izetbegovic were engaged in organizing and carrying out acts of sabotage, trained soldiers of the BiH army.
It is worth noting that mercenarism has become one of the characteristic features of the war in Bosnia. From different parts of the world, the armies of the opposing sides flocked to those who wanted to make money in the war - criminals, adventurers, people who did not find themselves in a peaceful life. But there were also many who went to fight in the Balkans for ideological reasons. They came to support fellow Muslims with weapons in their hands, fighters against "Serbo-Communism", "Serbo-Chetniks", or vice versa - supporting the struggle of "Serb brothers". The army of the RS also did not do without volunteers - from the former USSR, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, even from the countries of Western Europe. It is worth recalling that on the side of the Croatian Republic of BiH, regular units of the army of the Republic of Croatia fought, volunteers from the "mainland" (as well as Serbs directly from Serbia in the RS army). But in addition to compatriots, mercenaries from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and other countries fought on the side of the Croats.
Arms supplies to Muslims and Croats came mainly from Iran and Saudi Arabia. Both in the Croatian Armed Forces and in the army of BiH, American military instructors taught the soldiers the intricacies of the martial art. Armaments from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland also went to BiH, mainly by smuggling. Weapons entered the territory of Bosnia through Croatian ports, by air (NATO aircraft), through humanitarian convoys, and also from Albania through Kosovo (History of the Yugoslav crisis ... p. 280). And, nevertheless, despite the supply of weapons, despite the widespread system of attracting mercenaries, there was no serious attention to this problem from the UN. Only threats of an international embargo, which was never introduced, despite numerous facts of violation of the charters of this international organization by the leadership of Croatia and BiH.
Meanwhile, the situation in the ranks of the warring parties was becoming confusing. There were alliances between the two sides against the third, in various regions of BiH, the Serbs united with the Croats against the Muslims and with the Muslims against the Croats. Often the soldiers of the army of the RS with their actions saved the Muslims themselves from ethnic cleansing and extermination, who fled from the atrocities of the Green Berets (soldiers of the BiH army) and the Mujahideen. Not everything was calm in the Muslim camp. For example, supporters of Fikret Abdić, "autonomists", opposed the republican center in Sarajevo. Abdić, a former member of the Presidium of BiH, won more votes in the pre-war elections than Izetbegovic, but for unknown reasons withdrew his candidacy. In the spring of 1992, he broke with the Bosnian government and declared the region of Western Bosnia, with a population of about 300,000, independent of Sarajevo. F. Abdich was in favor of solving all problems peacefully, was against Izetbegovic's plans to create a Muslim state in BiH, stood for a secular way of life. They concluded peace agreements with the Serbs of the RS and RSK, which were guaranteed by Tudjman and Milosevic. Izetbegovic ordered the troops to liquidate the autonomy, but part of the forces of the 5th Corps of the BiH Army went over to the side of Abdich. International organizations ignored Abdich with his autonomy, and as a result, in 1994, the forces of the autonomists were pushed back, and in 1995, as a result of the fall of the RSK, the autonomy disappeared, it was occupied by the BiH government forces.
It can be concluded that the confrontation between Croats and Muslims in the second half of 1993, ethnic cleansing and violence against the civilian population, carried out by them, showed the fallacy of trying to find one guilty side of the conflict. All opposing sides were responsible. Nevertheless, in the eyes of the world community, and in their person the United States and the EU, only the Serbs remained guilty of all sins.
The international community, meanwhile, has repeatedly made attempts to resolve the Bosnian conflict peacefully. In the UN Security Council, this issue was the subject of constant discussion. Also, the problem of settlement in BiH was considered at numerous European conferences, was in the focus of attention of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General S. Vance and EU Commissioner D. Owen. Both of these international figures worked out a joint plan for resolving the conflict (the Vance-Owen plan). This plan provided for the creation of nine cantons on the territory of BiH according to the national-territorial principle and one mixed canton - with the capital in Sarajevo. However, the Bosnian Serbs reacted negatively to the proposed territorial delimitation map. (Balkan dead end… p.376). In 1993, the Serbs, due to their unwillingness to accept the Vance-Owen plan, began a powerful international pressure. This was due, in particular, to the fact that the Clinton administration, which came to power in the United States, was actively involved in resolving issues of settlement in the former Yugoslavia. On the other hand, it should be noted that under the Vance-Owen plan, the Serbs had to give up a significant part of their territories. Moreover, almost all production, the vast majority of mining enterprises in BiH, were to remain in the hands of Muslims and Croats. In matters of the loss of their land, the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs showed enviable fortitude. Such stubbornness surprised and frankly angered the representatives of the world community. The media of the EU countries and the USA staged a frank persecution of the Serbs on the pages of their publications, in the reports of their television companies. The Serbs were credited with genocide against the civilian population, the desire to create a "Great Serbia". This confirmed that the main thing in the policy of the settlement in the Balkans for the international community, and in its person the US and the EU, remained the preservation of the “presumption of guilt” of the Serbs, Serbia, and the FRY. On May 28, 1993, US Secretary of State W. Christopher stated that if the Bosnian Serbs did not accept the Vance-Owen plan, then international sanctions against the FRY would be tightened, and the embargo on arms supplies to Muslims in Bosnia would be lifted (and such supplies were carried out without it ). Moreover, Christopher threatened the military participation of the North Atlantic Alliance troops on the side of Muslims and Croats. Such pressure on the Serbs and the FRY was intensified in connection with the events in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica. From this city, Muslim forces, having previously expelled the Serbian population, despite the ceasefire agreement, in the spring of 1993 began to carry out bloody raids on Serbian villages. In response, the Serbs fired on Srebrenica with artillery and rocket launchers. On April 18, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to tighten sanctions against Yugoslavia. At the same time, Russia and China abstained from voting. Reports by the UNPROFOR Commander-in-Chief that the Serbian shelling had been provoked by the Muslim side were ignored. At the same time, B. Clinton ordered the use of US Air Force aircraft to drop humanitarian aid into Muslim cities. Thus, American aviation gradually moved to taking control of the skies over BiH. The airspace began to be patrolled by NATO aircraft. The alliance was preparing to strike at the positions of the Serbs.
Official Belgrade, represented by President S. Milosevic, supported the Vance-Owen plan (in exchange for easing sanctions) and, for its part, began to put pressure on R. Karadzic and the Serbian government in Pale (a resort town a few kilometers from Sarajevo, where the RS government was located. Although, the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs considered Sarajevo to be their capital). The Bosnian Serbs were under double pressure, but they refused to accept the settlement plan. On the other hand, the UN Security Council did not ease the sanctions against the FRY for Milosevic's support of the Vance-Owen plan. On May 15-16, the RS government held a referendum on the territory of the republic on the adoption of the settlement plan (earlier, the RS Assembly declared it unacceptable). 96% of the participants voted against this plan and were in favor of the independence of the RS.
A number of researchers believe that the likelihood of the Serbs accepting the Vance-Owen plan with certain adjustments and additions was quite real in mid-1993. In their opinion, too much pressure on the Bosnian Serbs, the policy of threats used against them, prevented the Serbs from accepting the peace plan. Many, including D. Owen, noted the decisive role of the United States in increasing pressure on the leadership of the RS and disrupting the negotiation process. Moreover, D. Owen noted in his memoirs that, in his opinion, the B. Clinton administration was just interested in the further escalation of the armed conflict in BiH. On the other hand, both the Croatian and Muslim armies were arming at an accelerated pace. The deliveries of weapons - aircraft, tanks, artillery - were made mainly from Germany, from the former military warehouses of the GDR. American weapons were also introduced into the troops of the Republic of Croatia.
The Muslims also had a number of sources for arming their own army. A number of JNA warehouses with a fairly large amount of ammunition remained in their hands. In addition, a number of plants and factories for the production of weapons and ammunition functioned in the territories controlled by Muslim troops. One of the largest such enterprises was the Pobeda factory, located in the Muslim enclave of Gorazde. In addition, armaments came into the hands of Muslims from Germany, also from the former warehouses of the GDR, as well as from Hungary and a number of Western European countries. The weapons were in transit through Slovenia and Croatia, or (very often) under the guise of humanitarian cargo.
The buildup of combat potential by the armies of Croatia and BiH was primarily due to the fact that they were going to achieve their goals by military means. And, it must be said that the policy of the international community, and in its person the United States and the EU, towards the Bosnian, Krajina Serbs and the FRY, in every possible way contributed to the unwillingness of the authorities in Zagreb and Sarajevo to solve the tasks set through negotiations. Tudjman and Izetbegović regarded the frenzied attack on the Serbs as a call to action. It remained to build up potential in order to hit the Serbs with all their might after a while. This is what happened in 1995, when Krajina fell, and with the help of NATO aircraft, the Serbs were able to persuade them to a world that was unfavorable to them.

Signing of the Dayton Accords

In general, the situation in BiH in 1993 - early 1994 continued to be extremely confused. In some regions of the republic, the opposing forces either waged a war on the principle of "all against all", or entered into temporary alliances with one of the parties, which were conditioned by momentary goals, or even personal relations of local leaders. It is worth noting that in addition to the regular armies of the three sides - the army of Croatia, the army of BiH and the army of the RS - a large number of irregular military units fought in the camp of the participants in the conflict, tied to the place of residence in the first place. They operated along the perimeter of the territory, which was mainly part of the territory of their community. Many of these groups had their own uniforms, their own insignia, and their own sources of weaponry. If we take the Serbian side, such "independent" detachments were not highly appreciated by the senior officers of the RS army, former JNA soldiers, in particular, General Ratko Mladic. He generally did not care about various volunteer formations. In his opinion, such detachments were well able to rob, get drunk, show off in front of journalists. And when it was necessary to perform a specific combat mission, these irregular units disappeared somewhere. Russian volunteers who visited the Balkans noted that the Serbian army was more likely not a regular army, but a militia. As already noted, the attachment of the soldiers to the place of residence was strong. Thus, we can conclude that one of the main problems of the RS army was the lack of mobility of most of its units, which were difficult to transfer in a short time to different sectors of the front. On the other hand, the fighting in 1993 - early 1994 was more of a positional character. This can be explained by the fact that by the beginning of 1993 both Serbs and Croats were in principle in control of those territories that they considered strategically important at the beginning of the military phase of the conflict. The Muslim army, despite the highest number in its ranks, when compared with all participants in hostilities, personnel, was still not sufficiently armed and trained to make its offensive operations bring significant success.
By mid-1993, a new project for a peaceful settlement in BiH took shape. Now it was planned to carry out the division of BiH into three parts on a national basis. There has been, in particular, some rapprochement between Serbs and Croats. Tudjman and Karadzic, in particular, were ready to exchange some territories. The Muslim side was dissatisfied with the project of dividing BiH into three parts. A. Izetbegovic demanded the removal of the arms embargo from the Muslim side. Peace talks were held in Geneva. And it is worth noting that Izetbegovic sabotaged them in every possible way, putting forward, for example, demands for the withdrawal of Croatian units from a number of territories they occupied. On the other hand, the President of BiH tried in every possible way to undermine the emerging rapprochement between Serbs and Croats, offering Tudjman the creation of a federation with the transfer of a large number of territories under Croatian control. However, the Croatian side rejected this proposal. This can be explained by the increased Muslim-Croat confrontation in Central Bosnia, in Mostar, the valley of the Neretva River. The Croats tried to keep their positions in this area, and the Muslims tried to create a compact territory and take control of the cities where military production was developed - Travnik, Vitez, Bugojno. Muslims accused the Croatian side of carrying out ethnic cleansing and the blockade of cities with a large number of civilians by the Croatian army. The Muslim side tried in every possible way to interrupt the peace talks, and on August 2, 1993, the Muslim delegation finally refused to accept the plan for the trilateral division of BiH on a national basis. At this time, B. Clinton made a statement that the NATO military forces are ready to take action against those who will impede the delivery of humanitarian aid and violate security zones, for example, by shelling Sarajevo. (Balkan dead end ... p. 380). Izetbegovic was received by Clinton at the White House in September 1993. The meeting was attended by US Secretary of State William Christopher. The President of BiH made a statement demanding that the UN Security Council achieve the lifting of the artillery blockade around Sarajevo by the Serbs. Washington fully supported Izetbegovic's unwillingness to participate in the division of BiH along ethnic lines, thereby prolonging the armed conflict.
In December 1993, due to the renewed shelling of Sarajevo, the contradictions between Serbs and Muslims again escalated. Izetbegovic rejected all proposals for a peaceful settlement in Geneva, despite the fact that the Serbs and Croats were ready to give over 30% of BiH territory to Muslim control. The negotiations were finally broken. On February 5, 1994, an explosion occurred in the Sarajevo market, killing 70 people. The EU and NATO countries, according to their old habit, blamed the Serbian side for everything. NATO troops were put on full alert. The Council of the North Atlantic Alliance demanded that the Serbs withdraw heavy artillery within 10 days, 20 km from Sarajevo. If the Serbian artillery and tanks had remained in the restricted area, they would have been hit by an air strike. No ultimatums were presented to Muslims who had artillery in the same zone. Although most international military observers noted that the Serbian shelling was a response to Muslim provocations, which placed their artillery on civilian targets such as schools, hospitals and from there fired on Serb positions. They could not resist and responded. As if on cue, crowds of correspondents turned up at the scene of the incident, who, in their pre-fabricated reports, accused the Serbs of genocide and barbarism. In the meantime, Serb involvement in the February 5 explosion has not been proven. Moreover, the footprints pointed to the Muslim side. However, negotiations for a peace settlement were definitively derailed. As a result, thanks to the efforts of Russian diplomacy, it was possible to persuade the Serbs to withdraw heavy weapons 20 km from Sarajevo, and also to withdraw their troops from the strategically important height - Mount Igman. It is worth noting that earlier the Serbs managed to capture this height at the cost of great efforts and losses. However, the troops of the peacekeepers, who occupied Igman after the departure of the Serbs, very quickly, without a fight, left the mountain to the Muslims.
The Croatian-Muslim crisis coincided with the aggravation of relations between Croatia and the RSK. In addition, in the confrontation between the Croats and the Muslims in Central Bosnia and the Neretva Valley, the advantage was on the side of the Muslims. The actions of the Croatian side were condemned by international observers. In this regard, Washington began to make efforts to unite Muslims and Croats into a confederation, using part of the Vance-Owen plan. Such an alliance was to be directed primarily against the Serbs.
At the end of March 1994, agreements were signed in Washington on the establishment of a Croatian-Muslim federation. Thus, the American scenario of ways to resolve the Balkan conflict, in which the main bet was on the unification of two of the three opposing camps, designed to "pacify" the Serbs, as the main culprits, according to the US leadership, unleashed a bloody civil strife, came into action. Of course, the consequences of such an association was a further escalation of the conflict.
In April 1994, the BiH army launched a large-scale offensive against the Serbs. However, the actions of the Muslim troops did not bring much success to the command of the "Green Berets" (except for the "cleaned out" thousands of Serbian civilians). On the contrary, as a result of the undertaken counter-offensive, the Serbs were able to take commanding heights around the city of Gorazde. The Gorazde zone was one of the six "security zones" - enclaves declared by the UN as a demilitarized zone and protected by the "blue helmets" in the east of the RS. Very poor, it should be noted, protection when it came to the capture of these zones by Muslims. The Serbs were primarily interested in taking possession of the Pobeda military factory, located on the territory of the enclave, which supplied the BiH army with a large amount of ammunition. Up to 65 thousand refugees have accumulated in the city. However, the Serbs began shelling Gorazde with artillery pieces. Also, detachments of the RS army tried to storm the city, the battles went directly behind the factory. The Serbian detachments managed to capture Pobeda, in which they held out for several days, and then, having mined various factory facilities, left it. Russian volunteers also took part in the capture of this most important Muslim object.
It is worth noting that the commander of the RS army, Ratko Mladic, carried out an offensive operation in the area of ​​​​the Gorazde enclave without the consent of Pale. Even then, there were serious contradictions between the army command and the political elite of the RS. The world community considered the actions of the Serbs extremist, and the NATO Council issued an ultimatum in which it threatened to destroy Serbian military installations within a radius of 20 km around the city. The Serbs withdrew their troops 3 km from Gorazde.
In May 1994, a meeting was held in Geneva between the heads of the diplomatic departments of Russia, the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, and representatives of the EU and the UN. The proposal of European countries on the division of the territory of BiH between its ethnic groups was discussed according to the formula: 49% of the territory - to the Serbs, 51% - to the Muslim-Croatian Federation. This approach required great concessions from the Serbs, who controlled 70% of the territory. (Balkan dead end ... p. 382). Later, in early June 1994, a one-month ceasefire was reached between the warring parties. Until the end of the year, negotiations were underway on the proposal of the Contact Group, which were not crowned with success.
In August 1994, by decision of the leadership of the FRY, the border between Serbia and the RS was blocked. All deliveries, except for humanitarian aid, from the "mainland" to the territory of the self-proclaimed republic of the Bosnian Serbs were stopped. Belgrade also agreed to the monitoring of Serbia's border with Bosnia by international observers. The RS found itself in complete isolation, which seriously undermined its military potential. At this time, the opponents of the Serbs, the Croats and Muslims, due to the supply of weapons and the training of their personnel with the help of Western advisers, significantly increased their combat potential. In May and August 1995, the Croatian army conducted two carefully planned military operations to eliminate the RSK - "Shine" and "Storm". As a result of the rapid offensive of the Croatian units (with the support of NATO and the absence of resistance from the Blue Helmets at the delimitation lines of the Serbo-Croatian conflict), which were supported from Bosnia by units of the 5th Corps of the BiH army, which destroyed the autonomy of F. Abdić, the Republic of Serbian Krajina ceased exist. And in mid-August, the joint forces of Muslims and Croats launched an offensive against Serb positions in Central Bosnia.

NATO troops enter Bosnia and Herzegovina

The situation in BiH finally changed, not in favor of the Serbs, the bombing of Serbian positions by NATO aircraft. There were two main events that were the reason for the use against one of the warring parties military force North Atlantic Alliance. These are the events around the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica and rocket attacks on civilians in the Markale market in Sarajevo.
In July 1995, in response to the increasing attacks from the Srebrenica enclave of Muslim detachments under the command of Nasser Oric, aimed at massacring the civilian Serb population in the villages surrounding Srebrenica, the Serbian command launched an attack on this Muslim enclave. As a result of full-scale hostilities using various types of equipment, the Serbs drove out the Muslim formations from the city. A huge number of Muslim refugees have accumulated in Srebrenica. At the same time, it is worth noting that, while retreating, Muslim soldiers committed a number of grave crimes against the civilian Serbian population, also located in Srebrenica and its environs. There were a number of cases of revenge on the part of the Serbian military who shot captured Oric fighters, as well as some Muslim men whom the Serbs suspected of participating in military formations. With the help of the world community, these incidents were inflated to a humanitarian catastrophe, taking into account the fact that the Serbs did not touch the refugees, and Ratko Mladic deliberately took rather populist steps, posing in front of television cameras along with the refugees, talking with them. As a result, on a fabricated conclusion, the Serbs were accused of shooting several thousand Muslims.
On August 28, 1995, the Markale market in Sarajevo was fired upon by rockets. 37 people were killed, more than 80 were injured. Terrible footage spread all over the world (surprisingly, the TV crew worked in the first moments after the shelling with lightning speed, as if they were preparing and knew when and where the tragedy would happen). As a result of a very rudely conducted investigation, the Serbs were found guilty, although according to preliminary conclusions, "in hot pursuit", it was concluded that the shells had arrived rather from the Muslim side of Sarajevo.
Nevertheless, the events in Sarajevo at the end of August 1995 served as a pretext for NATO aircraft to bomb the positions of the Bosnian Serbs in the area of ​​the BiH capital. In August-September, with the knowledge of the UN Security Council, the Alliance aviation carried out a series of raids on military and industrial facilities on the territory of the RS. From August 30 to September 14, 5515 air attacks were made. (Balkan impasse ... p. 384). Serbian troops were brought to the brink of disaster. Simultaneously with the NATO bombing, Muslim-Croat forces carried out a successful offensive against Serbian territories in Western Bosnia. The situation in the military confrontation has changed with kaleidoscopic speed. The Serbs, whose air defense system suffered serious damage, and communications were completely disrupted, began to leave their positions. As a result of a military disaster in early September 1995, the Serbs left 4 thousand square kilometers. territories with a Serbian majority population. The military defeat forced the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs to start peace negotiations. On October 12, ceasefire agreements were signed. However, the Croats continued to fire at various objects on the territory of the RS.
Peace talks ended in November in Dayton (USA, Ohio). And the official signing of the peace agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina took place on December 14, 1995 in Paris. In accordance with this agreement, BiH became a single state, consisting of two subjects - the Muslim-Croatian Federation and the Republika Srpska. Immediately after the signing of the agreements in Dayton, in December 1995, the UN Security Council announced the launch of a new peacekeeping operation by forces to implement the Agreement. A contingent of 60,000 men, of which 10,000 were from non-NATO countries (including Russia), were to enforce the terms of the peace agreements. The four-year war in BiH was over. The plan of the Contact Group was carried out.
According to some reports, 200 thousand people died during the war, more than 500 thousand were injured. The number of refugees and displaced persons amounted to more than three million people. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the war that engulfed the territory of the former SFRY took on the most violent character. The main victims were civilians. Without exception, all sides of the confrontation are responsible for crimes against humanity, expressed in their barbaric nature and horrifying in their scale "ethnic cleansing". At the same time, one cannot fail to note the role of the US and the EU in unleashing a bloody conflict, through their unjustified from the point of view of international legal norms and haste, recognition of the independence of BiH, and then the search for one guilty party. According to many researchers, the Dayton Accords did not put an end to the Serbo-Croat-Muslim contradictions, but only mothballed the conflict. The current policy pursued in the Balkans by the United States and the European Union (in which, by the way, there is no former unity in relation to some problems, in particular, an attempt to unilaterally recognize the independence of Kosovo), may lead to an outbreak of separatism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and consequently, to the resumption of armed conflict.

Ivanovsky Sergey

In this issue you will see pictures from the book "Bosnia 1992-1995", which will be published in July this year. The book includes the work of photographers who witnessed the Bosnian War, which began 20 years ago. Under each photo there will be captions in the form of personal reflections of photographers about the events in Bosnia at that time.

The collapse of Yugoslavia in 1990-1992 led to a number of conflicts in the breakaway territories: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. One part of the population supported the adoption of independence, the other was against such measures. Everyone was trying to pull power in their direction. Against this background, military conflicts arose. The Bosnian war broke out as a result of irreconcilable contradictions between Serbs, Muslims, Bosnians and Croats. What then seemed insignificant in the light of the agony of a huge empire, now, 20 years later, looks completely different. It was the birth of a new geopolitical reality.

20 years later, there is still a peacekeeping contingent in Bosnia. This and many other wars that followed it showed that even the invasion of the country by the most powerful army on the planet is not enough to end the hostility on religious and ethnic grounds.

(Total 13 photos)

1. Young Bosnians in the cemetery in Brcko, where all their comrades are buried. 1993 (James Nachtwey for TIME)

2. Serb soldiers beat up civilians on Bijelina Street, 1992. (Ron Haviv-VII)

3. Sarajevo, June 1992. "Sniper Alley" is a strip of open space separating the suburbs and the center of Sarajevo. Every day, hundreds of people, risking their lives, crossed this lane at a run. (Paul Lowe Magnum)

4. Mostar, May 1993. Correspondent Christopher Morris: "No other war made such a deep impression on me. Even when I left in 1996, I could not understand how peoples who lived side by side for so many years allowed politicians to control them. How did these politicians so easily manage to awaken in people so blind and stupid nationalist hatred?" (Christopher Morris-VII)

5. July 1995 Tuzla. This photo was published in the Washington Post, and it was Al Gore who mentioned it during a speech at the White House on the day the US decided to intervene in the conflict. (Darko Bandic-AP)

6. September 1993, Mostar. The wounded as a result of the bombing were sent to hospitals located in the basements. Doctors could hardly help them because of the lack of medicines and blood for transfusion. In a besieged city, even extracting water was mortally dangerous - you had to rush to the river and back under sniper fire. (Laurent Van der Stockt-Gamma)

7. Mostar, 1993 The fighting in Mostar was for every house, for every room. In this brutal civil war, former neighbors shot at each other. (James Nachtwey for TIME)

8. Vitez, April 1993 These women are looking at a truck full of corpses as it pulls up to the city. When the corpses were unloaded from the truck, one of them recognized her husband among the dead…

9. Mostar, April 1993 The reporters ran into the house looking for cover and saw this soldier sitting on the stairs. He looked ahead of him and did not even notice them. (John Jones)

Material from our reader.

background

In fact, both Croats and Bosnians used to be a single Serbian Orthodox people. But it just so happened that the Balkans became a place of contact between two empires: the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian. The Turks began to spread Islam mainly in the Bosnian part, many accepted it, as it was profitable (those who accepted were exempted from taxes), many were threatened. But some retained the Orthodox faith. Austria-Hungary influenced the Croatian territory of the future Yugoslavia, respectively, the local part adopted Catholicism and was guided by the instructions of the Vatican. It must be remembered that the fatal shot of Gavrila Princip was fired in Sarajevo, which launched the First World War. The religious differences of the three peoples were clearly manifested in the Second World War. The Croats, under the auspices of the Germans, created the Ustashe detachments, which also included the detachments of the Bosnian Muslims. The Ustashe especially committed atrocities against the Serbs, which was well remembered by the latter and was not forgotten until the 90s. After 1945, having defeated both the Chetniks and the Germans, Tito, taking advantage of the post-war redistribution of Europe, gathered the Slavic lands in the Balkans into a single socialist state. Socialism was built with a "human face", nationalism was severely punished and it seems that the marshal managed to keep the "powder magazine of Europe" in peace and harmony.

The heart of Tito's empire was the multinational Bosnia or "Yugoslavia in Yugoslavia", where Muslims lived - 44% (then they were not called Bosniaks), Croats -17% and Serbs -31%. The capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, was an experimental city, which was also closely populated by three communities, and even hosted the 84 Winter Olympics. The whole country threw its forces into the construction of Olympic facilities, many donated money from their salaries, thousands of volunteers enthusiastically helped to hold the games. Large Western companies came to Sarajevo (which was impossible to imagine in the USSR), the Holiday Inn built its own hotel, the Momo and Uezir skyscraper towers, a large television center and a television tower for broadcasting games appeared in the city, which finally turned Sarajevo from from a small town to a metropolis and the most prestigious city for living in Yugoslavia. The fact that in less than 10 years "Momo" and "Uezir" will be on fire, and no one could have thought of the capital of the world and the Olympics under siege.

After the death of Tito, Yugoslavia flew into tartar. The death of Marshal made it clear that no one simply knew what to do, how to keep local nationalists in the republics, who quickly turned from communists into supporters of democracy and independence for their peoples. In the late 1980s, the Serbian Academy of Sciences, in response to the emerging Croatian and Muslim nationalism, issued its memorandum, where it hints at Greater Serbia - a republic not within Yugoslav borders, but within the borders of Serb residence (these are parts of the territory of Bosnia and Croatia). Yugoslavia was doomed.

In 1990, the first free elections are held in Bosnia. They are not won by the communists, but by the three national parties of Croats, Serbs and Muslims. Moreover, the votes are divided practically according to the percentage of the population. At first, on the wave of democracy, all parties welcomed each other's political enlightenment. Muslims sent greetings to the SDA - the party of Radovan Karadzic. But as soon as the elections to the Assembly (parliament) were held, Muslims and Croats declared the independence of Bosnia, it remains only to consolidate this by a referendum, which, of course, was won by Muslims and Croats purely mathematically. Bosnian Serbs, led by a psychologist (by the way, who worked at the Kosevo Olympic Stadium) and dissident Karadzic, declare that they will create their own republic on the lands where Serbs live and join Yugoslavia, and “the Muslim people will not be able to defend themselves in case of war.” Here it must be clearly understood that all three parties, especially the Croatian and Bosnian ones, were nationalist. Muslims from the Democratic Action Party were inspired by the "Muslim Declaration" of the party leader Izetbegovic and wanted to populate Bosnia with another 5 million former Bosniaks from Turkey and build "Euro-Islam" based on European order and civilization. The Croats were guided by the Zagreb new Ustasha ultranationalists. Before the referendum, the situation is heating up, the militia in Sarajevo is divided according to the national principle, and in the Baščarčia quarter a Serbian wedding is shot, as they say, for the traditional Serbian tricolor at weddings. In Sarajevo, barricades appear in areas inhabited by Serbs. But not everyone wants to separate, three peoples speak the same language, there are many mixed marriages, because there was no great religiosity in a socialist country. In Sarajevo, a large demonstration of over a hundred thousand people is taking place against the war and for the unity of the peoples. She is being shot at by snipers, allegedly from the same Holiday Inn that houses the office of the Serbian SDA party. Although further investigation shows that the shots were from the other side of the city, from the mountains. But the fuse was lit, provocations continued and after the referendum turned into a war.

Siege

After the referendum, the Yugoslav People's Army gradually began to withdraw from Bosnia, but interethnic clashes slowed down this process a little, the Serbian part of the army began to go over to the side of local Serbs, Muslims and Croats did not have such weapons as the Yugoslav people, and at first they were content with seizing warehouses or supplies from abroad. If desired, the JNA could quickly resolve the issue with Sarajevo, part of which the Serbs wanted to see as their capital, but time was lost, and the matter was limited to the siege of the city. Sarajevo was located in a valley between two mountain ranges, and it was not difficult for the Serbs to organize a siege of the city. By this point, many Serbs had left the city, and those who refused to do so were declared "not Serbs" by the Serbian command. The siege lasted almost 4 years, intermittently, and all four years there was a swing between the international community, Yugoslavia, Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Muslims.

The open and most dangerous part of the city from the Bashcharchia quarter to the Butmir airport was called the "sniper alley", it was dangerous to appear on it, people moved there only by running, and the local "Yugo" cars rushed at maximum speed as this part was shot through from the surrounding mountains. There was a 50/50 chance of surviving here. Residents of Sarajevo tried to wear shorter skirts and make brighter makeup - if a sniper sees it, he will regret it and don't shoot. In the city itself, gangs of local criminal authorities popular with young people begin to operate, who first, under the guise of defenders of Muslims, crack down on the Sarajevo Serbs, and then rob their own. One of these commanders, Yussuf "Yuka" Prazina, is then liquidated by the decision of the Muslim authorities.

The Serbs almost completely close the Sarajevo defense circle, only the Butmir airport is controlled by UN peacekeepers. Under the airport, Muslims break through a tunnel (now a museum, you can even walk 200 meters), going to the free Bosnian territory, the city is supplied through it, and the Muslim leader Izetbegovic even has his own personal trolley. However, the city was supplied not only through the tunnel, but also through the UN. The siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege of the city in modern history, ended only in 1996. In the city, houses are still riddled with bullets, but it has been practically restored, a new skyscraper has appeared. Locals say that Greece helped a lot in the restoration in order to “smear off” their Greeks who fought for the Serbs from extradition to the tribunal. We do not know how true this is, but the Greeks were really actively restoring Sarajevo. In the Sarajevo brewery, which during the siege actively served as a source of water for residents (beer is brewed here on spring water), even now you can skip a glass of local light or dark beer.

Now there are Muslim mosques and Orthodox and Catholic churches in the city, but there are few visitors in them, the locals are not particularly religious. Bosniak, Croat and Serb can be distinguished from each other only by their names. Muslims have Turkish names, and surnames often sound like Serbian ones, Croats have names after Catholic saints, Serbs often have names Alexander, Mikhail, Vladimir with sonorous Russian ears. But the war has done its job, three communities live their lives, the Serbs live more apart in East Sarajevo, but young people, unlike the older generation, more often cooperate and do business with other communities, do not look at nationality. Under the terms of the Dayton Accords, which ended the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into two parts: the Muslim-Croatian and the Republika Srpska. The Muslims did not receive a purely Muslim state, as Izetbegovic dreamed, but they began to be called not in Tito's "Muslims", but Bosniaks. They are forced to continue living with the other two communities in a secular state and dream of joining the European Union. The Croats were not allowed to join Croatia with the Croatian lands and even create their own republic within Bosnia, while the Serbs received their own republic, but it does not have the right to join “big” Serbia, remaining part of Bosnia. Formally, it is now a single state of three peoples with its own currency and army. Three presidents rule for one year - a Croat, a Bosnian and a Serb each. The siege, the beginning of the First World War in 1914 and the former Olympic venues have become a tourist attraction in Sarajevo, people are busy with their own affairs and do not remember the war, but who knows what lies ahead for the powder magazine?

The topic of the Bosnian War is rarely raised in foreign media. The acute ethno-political crisis that arose 25 years ago is considered to be resolved. The West ignores the existing contradictions between the allegedly reconciled parties to the conflict, so as not to work on the mistakes.

Modern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a confederation with a very weak economy, high levels of corruption and crime. BiH is a state that is commonly called patchwork. Bosnia is made up of two de facto independent entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, which is divided into two enclaves.

According to 2015 data, the federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is populated predominantly by Bosniak Muslims (ethnic Serbs and Croats who converted to Islam) and Catholic Croats. The Republika Srpska consists mainly of Orthodox Serbs, but the proportion of the Muslim population is gradually growing there.

Preparing for war

The armed clashes in BiH that began in 1992 were the result of an internal crisis in the Yugoslav state and external pressure on its leader Slobodan Milosevic. Belgrade suffered its first defeat in the summer of 1991 in battles with the Slovenian militia.

The example of Slovenia, which left the socialist Yugoslavia, inspired the Croatian nationalists. In response to Zagreb's declaration of independence from Belgrade, local Serbs announced the creation of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. On May 16, the assembly (parliament) of the self-proclaimed state decided to join Yugoslavia.

In the second half of 1991, there were violent clashes between the Serbian militias, who were supported by the Yugoslav army, and the armed forces of the newly formed Croatia. In January 1992, thanks to the intervention of the UN, a ceasefire was established.

However, in March of the same year, the fire of war broke out in neighboring Bosnia, which was torn apart by contradictions between Muslims (44% of the population in 1991), Croats (17%) and Serbs (31%). In Yugoslavia, the Serbs, in fact, were the state-forming people. The Serbian population of BiH, like Croatia, opposed secession from the socialist state.

On January 9, 1992, the Assembly of the Serb People of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced the establishment of the Republika Srpska (RS). The Serbs began to form their own authorities and armed forces.

The increased clashes with Bosniaks and Croats served as a catalyst for the formation of the statehood of the RS. On March 5, 1992, the parliament in Sarajevo confirmed the independence of BiH. The contradictions in Bosnia have become irreversible. Serbs became separatists in the country that broke away from Yugoslavia.

Part of the officers of the Yugoslav army moved to RS. The authorities of the republic were aware of the nature of the impending threat and began to prepare for war. In the city of Khan-Pesak (70 km from Sarajevo), a headquarters was created, under the control of which there were six corps. In a fairly short time, the militias were united into a kind of regular army.

• Bosnian soldiers in Sarajevo, July 12, 1992

How myths were created

In March 1992, Croatian soldiers entered the northern part of Bosnia, which was controlled by the Serbs.

On March 27, in the border region of Posavina, the Croats staged the first ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War.

Soon, massacres of the civilian population will become an integral part of the fighting in BiH.

On April 5, 1992, with the active support of the Yugoslav army, RS troops laid siege to Sarajevo. The goal of the Serbs was to take the capital of BiH and other large cities, but they did not achieve significant success. Bosnia plunged into chaos, the victims of which were mostly civilians.

According to the materials of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, all parties to the conflict were guilty. However, since the spring of 1992, foreign media and politicians have been zealously portraying Serbian soldiers and militias as thugs, ignoring the numerous ethnic cleansings carried out by Muslims and Croats.

Such an information picture contributed to the emergence of various myths, which eventually acquired the status of historically reliable facts. One of the replicated examples of myth-making is the generally accepted interpretation of the events in Srebrenica (Eastern Bosnia), where 7,000-8,000 unarmed Muslims were allegedly killed.

In July 2015, Russia blocked a UK-proposed resolution condemning the 20-year-old massacre of Muslims. This act had not only good political reasons. Russian and Serbian historians insist that there is no evidence of even 1,500 deaths.

The Serbs were deliberately branded as bloodthirsty killers in order to make the events in Srebrenica an instrument of political pressure, says Elena Guskova, Doctor of Historical Sciences, head of the Center for the Study of the Contemporary Balkan Crisis. The expert does not deny that a terrible tragedy really happened in the Bosnian city, however, the scale of the shelling of the column of Muslims with weapons in their hands was inflated to the point of genocide. Where did the myth of the murder of 7000-8000 Muslims come from?

These figures were announced on November 3, 2004 by the Prosecutor of the UN International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Carla del Ponte in an address to the NATO Council. She referred to the report of the commission of the Republika Srpska to investigate the events in Srebrenica.

Later, a member of the commission, historian Zeljko Vujadinovic, pointed out that there were no such data in the report. According to him, there was accurate information about the death of more than 1,000 Muslims in the period from 10 to 19 July 1995, without specifying the reasons.

“The list of 7806 names refers to persons who were reported missing during the whole of July 1995,” explained Karla del Ponte Vujadinovic's “mistake”. By July 2005, the remains of 1,438 people had been identified, he said. It is noteworthy that 800 people who died during the whole of 1995 are buried in the Memorial Center in Srebrenica.

Fruits of Independence

25 years ago, a conflict erupted in southern Europe, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of people. The exact number of victims of the Bosnian massacre has not been established to this day due to the huge number of missing people.

The population of BiH suffered from a lack of food, medicine, and drinking water. The military carried out mass executions, raped women, organized concentration camps. Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks have forgotten that, in fact, they are one people, although they profess different faiths.

The Bosnian war ended with the intervention of NATO, after which the Dayton Accords were signed, legalizing BiH's secession from Yugoslavia. It is worth noting that Western governments at the official level supported the collapse of a large, by European standards, state.

On January 5, 1992, the European Union recognized the independence of Slovenia and Croatia. On April 7, 1992, the United States took a similar step, including Bosnia in the list of recognized states, in addition to Slovenia and Croatia.

In the second half of the 1990s, the West supported the Kosovo separatists, who were trained in Albania by American and European instructors.

On March 24, 1999, NATO launched an operation to destroy military and civilian facilities in Serbia.

The formal reason for the air strikes was accusations of ethnic cleansing against the Albanians. "Humanitarian intervention" became the final chord for Yugoslav statehood.

The autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija turned into a territory not controlled by Serbia, and in 2008 Western countries recognized its independence. In 2006, Montenegro went on a free voyage. As a result, Serbia lost access to the sea, becoming a small land state with a dilapidated economy.

However, a difficult socio-economic situation has developed in almost all Balkan countries. Only Slovenia feels relatively well.

In the IMF rating in terms of GDP per capita, Croatia, which joined the EU, is on the 56th line ($21.6 thousand). BiH ranks 105th ($10.5 thousand), while Kosovo is ranked 103rd ($9.7 thousand) according to the World Bank. Serbia ($13,600), Montenegro ($16,000) and Macedonia ($14,000), which bloodlessly seceded from Yugoslavia, are doing somewhat better.

Burial of International Law

The Yugoslav peoples were under the illusion that they could change their lives for the better by separating from Belgrade. According to Elena Guskova, this is a widespread misconception of “small peoples”.

“Yugoslavia was a state where there was a fairly high standard of living, and lagging regions were supported at the expense of prosperous ones. There was no oppression of national minorities or persecution in Yugoslavia. Rather, on the contrary, it was the Serbs who bore the main burden, ”Guskova stated.

“For 25 years the Yugoslav peoples have been living apart. This is a sufficient period to build statehood, the economy and find that better life for which tens of thousands of people died. And what is the result? Guskov asks a rhetorical question.

Dragana Trifkovic, head of the Belgrade Center for Geostrategic Studies, believes that the European Union and the United States were initially not interested in forming stable developing states in the Balkans. The aim of the West's policy towards Yugoslavia was to erase the buffer zone that separated it from the East.

“Caught in a stalemate, the Balkan republics rushed to the EU and NATO. However, European integration did not save Slovenia and Croatia from economic problems. Now other states, including Serbia, want to join the EU. However, the introduction of European standards only exacerbates their economic situation. This is a hopeless path, ”said RT Trifkovich.

In addition to large-scale economic degradation, the Balkans have become a region of ethno-political contradictions.

“NATO destroyed the objectionable regime and cleared its way to the East, leaving smoldering hearths in the region. Nationalism and antagonism towards the Serbs is observed in Croatia, Bosnia, Albania. Serbia is under great threat from all sides,” Trifkovic explained.

According to Guskova, the Bosnian war and the Kosovo crisis, as a result of which NATO aircraft bombed Belgrade, demonstrated that "since the 1990s, international law has ceased to exist." According to her, in place of Yugoslavia, politically dependent republics arose.

“The United States successfully conducted an experiment to fragment a fairly strong Slavic state using diplomatic, informational and military methods. Now it is impossible to seriously talk about any sovereignty of the current post-Yugoslav states, ”Guskova noted.

The expert stated that the Washington strategists successfully coped with the task: “The Balkans, deprived of a prosperous peaceful life, are under the influence of NATO and the EU. And in the West, there is confidence that everything was done right a quarter of a century ago.”

The Bosnian War (1992-1995) is one of the bloodiest consequences of the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The Bosnian conflict on ethnic grounds was of a non-standard type: the warring parties belonged to a single community, spoke the same language (although the unity of the “Serbo-Croatian” language has been disputed for many years), but differed on religious grounds.

Bosnian Serbs are Orthodox, Bosnian Croats are Catholics, the third group is Muslim Slavs.

Start

The socialist republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was one of the last to secede from the united Yugoslavia. The independence referendum was held without the participation of the Bosnian Serbs, so they did not recognize it and formed their own Republika Srpska.

Each of the three groups of Bosnian inhabitants (Serbs, Croats and Muslim Bosniaks) had its own army, and war broke out between the armies. The Serbian and Croatian armies had a numerical and technical advantage as they were assisted by the Serbian and Croatian governments. However, then the Serbs began to yield to other parties.

At the same time, the Bosnian Croat army quickly stopped the attack on the Serbs and focused on the destruction of the Bosniaks: the Muslims lived in the territory that Croatia considered its own, and the Republika Srpska was not included in this territory.

The course of the war

The war in independent Bosnia and Herzegovina flared up very quickly, so much so that it paralyzed the entire state life: government bodies actually ceased to exist. Representatives of Serbia and Croatia began to attempt to divide the Bosnian territory, and the Bosnians were out of work: they were poorly armed and trained and were not ready for war.

An attempt to prevent war was the Carrington-Cutileiro plan, which worked out an agreement signed by the leaders of the three ethnic groups of Bosnia in Lisbon. The plan included the following:

• Organize the distribution of power in the country along ethnic lines;
• Transfer the powers of the central government to local authorities;
• Divide the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina into "Bosnian", "Serbian" and "Croatian" provinces.

However, the leader of the Bosniaks, Aliya Izetbegovic, soon withdrew his signature and spoke out against the ethnic division of the republic. The Muslim leadership of the country organized the "Patriotic League", which began to intensively prepare for war. Izetbegovic made a trip to Iran, where he was received with favor as a "true Muslim".

The Bosniak troops thus received support, including material support, from the Islamic states. Other ethnic groups of the republic also began to prepare for war. One of the first major actions in the war was the siege of Sarajevo. The city's population was predominantly Muslim, but Orthodox Serbs predominated in the surrounding area.

The Serbian JNA army occupied the city and surrounding areas, forming additional units from among the local Serbs. The siege lasted from 1992 to 1996. In response to the capture of the capital, its Muslim inhabitants organized resistance - in particular, camps and prisons for Serbs were created.

For several years, battles unfolded in all territories of Bosnia. In 1994, a full-scale war began in the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna. In the same year, NATO troops invaded the Bosnian “hot spot”. In the midst of the war, concentration camps are created on the territory of the country. They were built by each of the warring parties.

Outcome of the war

The Bosnian war brought enormous destruction to the country: two-thirds of the buildings were destroyed, all railways, most of the roads, 70 bridges. The number of those killed is estimated at tens of thousands of people. For Bosnia and Herzegovina itself, the war ended with the Dayton Agreement, which is designed to restore peace in the country, at least to some extent. The state system established by the agreement is considered inefficient and cumbersome, but it cannot be canceled, otherwise the country will be mired in a new war.