How is the collapse of Yugoslavia different from the collapse of the USSR? Former Yugoslavia: General Impressions - Notes of a Russian Traveler

After the Second World War, Yugoslavia, although it entered the socialist camp, chose for itself a slightly different path of development than the USSR and other socialist countries. To a large extent, this was also dictated by the ambitions of the charismatic leader of the Yugoslav anti-fascist resistance, General Tito. In 1948, Yugoslavia quarreled with the Stalinist Soviet Union, and before Khrushchev came to power, Tito was called the "bloody executioner", "foreign spy" and "fascist" in the USSR.

Tito allowed elements of the market into the Yugoslav economy and abandoned collectivization. Emphasis was placed on the development of self-government in enterprises, significant powers were given to the management bodies in the Yugoslav republics: Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result constitutional reform In 1963, the country received the name of the SFRY - the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1980 Tito died.

Having achieved obvious success in the economy, Yugoslavia still could not cope with a number of problems. The planned traditions of the central leadership came into conflict with market elements, the republican authorities that received a certain autonomy took care of the interests of their region, separatist, nationalist tendencies began to appear more and more often in the republics, which especially intensified in the late 1980s. The most industrially developed Slovenia and Croatia provided 50% of the exports of the SFRY. It was these republics that took the initiative to introduce amendments to the country's constitution aimed at expanding their autonomy. Serbia and Montenegro made their own counterproposals that strengthened centralization.

After the federal parliament - the Federal Assembly - actually supported Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia in September 1989 proclaimed the priority of republican laws over federal laws and declared its right to withdraw from the SFRY. The disintegration of inter-republican economic relations began, trade within the SFRY switched to mutual settlements in German marks, eight autonomous energy systems operated in the country. Crash inflation has begun. Attempts by the SKU (Union of Communists of Yugoslavia) to prevent the disintegration of the army failed. The Unions of Communists of all the republics changed their name, and many other parties appeared. In 1990–1991 in elections in all republics except Serbia and Montenegro, anti-communist forces came to power.

In Slovenia, at the end of 1990, a referendum on independence was held, in which 86% were in favor. The “Demos” (“Democratic Opposition”) bloc headed by M. Kuchan came to power. Small Slovenia rapidly moved to the standards of developed capitalist countries.

In Croatia, the majority was won by the "Croatian Democratic Commonwealth" headed by Franjo Tudjman, a former general of the Yugoslav People's Army, commissar of a partisan detachment, historian and dissident. From the beginning of the 1970s, he promoted the idea of ​​the national revival of Croatia, for which he was persecuted by the authorities. The referendum that placed Tuđman in power boycotted the population of Krajna, a self-proclaimed Serbian enclave within Croatia.

On June 25, 1991, Slovenia and Croatia officially declared their independence. The territories of these republics, inhabited by Serbs, began the struggle for joining Serbia. Yugoslavia was drawn into the ethnic conflict people's army. Then, after its withdrawal, the war in Croatia was continued (and quite successfully) by detachments of the Serbian self-defense. Belgrade supported them with weapons and money. The tragedy also lay in the fact that the differences between Croats and Serbs were, in general, small for an outside observer. They spoke the same Serbo-Croatian language, fought together for many years for the independence of Yugoslavia. There were differences in religion (Serbs - Orthodox, Croats and Slovenes - Catholics). For a long time, Croatia and Slovenia were in the sphere of interests of Hungary, Austria, Germany, while Serbia was conquered by Turkey, then it was supported by Russia. The outbreak of civil war was temporarily suspended due to the emergency intervention of the UN peacekeeping contingent. The country was given a special status.

In Macedonia, independence was achieved without military conflicts in September 1991. This country has problems with international recognition due to the position of Greece, claiming a number of territories.

Serbia and Montenegro, left alone, proclaimed in April 1992 a new Yugoslavia - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). Power was concentrated in the hands of the Serbs under the leadership of Slobodan Milosevic.

The most bloody was the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the relative majority (about 40%) was Muslim (Slavs who converted to Islam during the reign of the Ottoman Empire). 32% were Orthodox Serbs, who at the same time inhabited the largest territories in the republic; 18.4% are Catholic Croats. After the elections in October 1991, Croats and Muslims entered into an alliance and, having formed a majority, proclaimed a Memorandum of Independence for the country. The Serbian community refused to recognize this document and announced the creation of a separate Serbian Republic in Bosnia. The referendum held in March 1992 was ignored by the Bosnian Serbs. The majority of those who voted were in favor of independence. In April 1992, a civil war broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina on interethnic and interfaith grounds. By 1993, 160,000 people had died here. Mutual ethnic "cleansing operations", partisan raids, filling concentration camps, shelling Sarajevo and other cities continued for more than three years. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been charged with genocide and war crimes by an international tribunal.

The UN and the EU were the most serious against the FRY. The Serbian leadership was accused of an expansionist policy, interference in the affairs of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Against Belgrade were introduced economic sanctions, which were removed only in January 1996. During this time, the country's economy suffered enormous damage. At the same time, NATO aircraft were attacking the bases of the Bosnian Serbs, thus persuading them to sign peace agreements.

In November 1995, at the initiative of England and the United States, Milosevic, Tudjman and the Bosnian leader Izitbegovic signed an agreement in the city of Dayton (USA) that extinguished the flame civil war. With the assistance of UN and NATO peacekeepers, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into three enclaves. The Serbian part of Sarajevo was handed over to the Muslims, which left about 150 thousand people. In general, the war in Bosnia claimed more than 200 thousand human lives. About 800 thousand Muslims were expelled from the eastern part of Bosnia, about 600 thousand Serbs from the western and central parts, and about 300 thousand Croats from the central part. Many of them remained abroad; by 2000, the number of those who left the country reached 800 thousand people.

Introduction

Declaration of Independence: June 25, 1991 Slovenia June 25, 1991 Croatia September 8, 1991 Macedonia November 18, 1991 Croatian Commonwealth of Herceg-Bosna (annexed to Bosnia in February 1994) December 19, 1991 Republic of Serbian Krajina February 28, 1992 Republika Srpska April 6, 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina September 27, 1993 Autonomous Region of Western Bosnia (Destroyed in Operation Storm) June 10, 1999 Kosovo under the "protectorate" of the UN (Formed as a result of the NATO War against Yugoslavia) June 3, 2006 Montenegro February 17, 2008 Republic of Kosovo

During the civil war and disintegration, four of the six union republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia) separated from the SFRY at the end of the 20th century. At the same time, UN peacekeeping forces were introduced into the territory, first of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then of the autonomous province of Kosovo.

In Kosovo and Metohija, in order to resolve the inter-ethnic conflict between the Serbian and Albanian populations in accordance with the UN mandate, the United States and its allies conducted a military operation to occupy the autonomous province of Kosovo, which was under UN protectorate.

Meanwhile, Yugoslavia, in which early XXI century, two republics remained, turned into Lesser Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro): from 1992 to 2003 - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, (FRY), from 2003 to 2006 - the confederal State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (GSCh). Yugoslavia finally ceased to exist with the withdrawal from the union of Montenegro on June 3, 2006.

One of the components of the collapse can also be considered the declaration of independence on February 17, 2008 of the Republic of Kosovo from Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo was part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia on the rights of autonomy, called the Socialist Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija.

1. Opposing sides

The main sides of the Yugoslav conflicts:

Serbs led by Slobodan Milosevic;

Bosnian Serbs, led by Radovan Karadzic;

Croats, led by Franjo Tudjman;

Bosnian Croats, led by Mate Boban;

Krajina Serbs, led by Goran Hadzic and Milan Babic;

Bosniaks, led by Aliya Izetbegovic;

Autonomist Muslims, led by Fikret Abdic;

Kosovo Albanians, led by Ibrahim Rugova (actually Adem Yashari, Ramush Hardinay and Hashim Thaci).

In addition to them, the UN, the United States and their allies also participated in the conflicts, Russia played a prominent, but secondary role. The Slovenes participated in an extremely fleeting and unimportant two-week war with federal center, the Macedonians did not take part in the war and gained independence peacefully.

1.1. Fundamentals of the Serbian position

According to the Serbian side, the war for Yugoslavia began as a defense of a common power, and ended with a struggle for the survival of the Serbian people and for their unification within the borders of one country. If from the republics of Yugoslavia each had the right to secede on a national basis, then the Serbs as a nation had the right to prevent this division where it seized territories inhabited by the Serb majority, namely in Serbian Krajina in Croatia and in the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina

1.2. Basics of the Croatian position

The Croats argued that one of the conditions for joining the federation was the recognition of the right to secede from it. Tuđman often said that he was fighting for the realization of this right in the form of a new independent Croatian state (which some associated with the Ustashe Independent State of Croatia).

1.3. Fundamentals of the Bosnian position

The Bosnian Muslims were the smallest of the fighting groups.

Their position was rather unenviable. The President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegovic, avoided taking a clear position until the spring of 1992, when it became clear that the former Yugoslavia was no more. Then Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence following a referendum.

Bibliography:

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Yugoslavia - history, disintegration, war.

The events in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s shocked the whole world. The horrors of civil war, the atrocities of "national cleansing", the genocide, the exodus from the country - since 1945 Europe has not seen anything like it.

Until 1991, Yugoslavia was the largest state in the Balkans. Historically, the country was inhabited by people of many nationalities, and over time, the differences between ethnic groups increased. Thus, the Slovenes and Croats in the northwestern part of the country became Catholics and USE the Latin alphabet, while the Serbs and Montenegrins, who lived closer to the south. accepted Orthodox faith and used the Cyrillic alphabet for writing.

These lands attracted many conquerors. Croatia was occupied by Hungary. 2 subsequently became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Serbia, like most of the Balkans, was annexed to the Ottoman Empire, and only Montenegro was able to defend its independence. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to political and religious factors, many residents converted to Islam.

When the Ottoman Empire began to lose its former power, Austria captured Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby expanding its influence in the Balkans. In 1882, Serbia was reborn as an independent state: the desire to liberate the Slavic brothers from the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy then united many Serbs.

Federal Republic

On January 31, 1946, the Constitution of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (FPRY) was adopted, which fixed its federal structure in the composition of six republics - Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as two autonomous (self-governing) territories - Vojvodina and Kosovo.

Serbs were the largest ethnic group in Yugoslavia - 36% of the inhabitants. They inhabited not only Serbia, nearby Montenegro and Vojvodina: many Serbs also lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo. In addition to the Serbs, the country was inhabited by Slovenes, Croats, Macedonians, Albanians (in Kosovo), the national minority of the Hungarians in the region of Vojvodina, as well as many other small ethnic groups. Fairly or not, but representatives of other national groups believed that the Serbs were trying to get power over the whole country.

Beginning of the End

National questions in socialist Yugoslavia were considered a relic of the past. However, one of the most serious internal problems has become tension between different ethnic groups. The northwestern republics of Slovenia and Croatia prospered, while the standard of living of the southeastern republics left much to be desired. Mass indignation was growing in the country - a sign that the Yugoslavs did not at all consider themselves a single people, despite 60 years of existence within the framework of one power.

In 1990, in response to events in Central and Eastern Europe, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia decided to introduce a multi-party system in the country.

In the 1990 elections, Milosevic's socialist (former communist) party won a large number of votes in many regions, but achieved a decisive victory only in Serbia and Montenegro.

There were heated debates in other regions. Harsh measures aimed at crushing Albanian nationalism met with a decisive rebuff in Kosovo. In Croatia, the Serb minority (12% of the population) held a referendum in which it was decided to achieve autonomy; frequent clashes with the Croats led to a revolt of the local Serbs. The biggest blow to the Yugoslav state was the referendum in December 1990, which declared the independence of Slovenia.

Of all the republics, only Serbia and Montenegro now sought to maintain a strong, relatively centralized state; in addition, they had an impressive advantage - the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), capable of becoming a trump card during future debates.

Yugoslav war

In 1991, the SFRY broke up. In May, the Croats voted to secede from Yugoslavia, and on June 25, Slovenia and Croatia officially declared their independence. There were battles in Slovenia, but the positions of the federals were not strong enough, and soon the JNA troops were withdrawn from the territory of the former republic.

The Yugoslav army also came out against the rebels in Croatia; in the ensuing war, thousands of people were killed, hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes. All attempts by the European community and the UN to force the parties to cease fire in Croatia were in vain. The West was at first reluctant to watch the collapse of Yugoslavia, but soon began to condemn "Great Serbian ambitions."

Serbs and Montenegrins resigned themselves to the inevitable split and proclaimed the creation of a new state - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Hostilities in Croatia were over, although the conflict was not over. A new nightmare began when ethnic tensions in Bosnia escalated.

A UN peacekeeping force was sent to Bosnia, with varying success, managing to stop the slaughter, alleviate the fate of the besieged and starving population, and create "safe zones" for Muslims. In August 1992, the world was shocked by the revelation of the brutal treatment of people in POW camps. The United States and other countries openly accused the Serbs of genocide and war crimes, but at the same time they still did not allow their troops to intervene in the conflict, later, however, it turned out that not only the Serbs were involved in the atrocities of that time.

Threats of air attacks by UN forces forced the JNA to give up their positions and end the siege of Sarajevo, but it was clear that the peacekeeping efforts to preserve the multi-ethnic Bosnia had failed.

In 1996, a number of opposition parties formed a coalition called "Unity", which soon organized in Belgrade and other major cities Yugoslavia mass demonstrations against the ruling regime. However, in the elections held in the summer of 1997, Milosevic was again elected president of the FRY.

After fruitless negotiations between the government of the FRY and the Albanian leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (blood was still shed in this conflict), NATO announced an ultimatum to Milosevic. Starting from the end of March 1999, rocket and bomb strikes began to be carried out almost every night on the territory of Yugoslavia; they ended only on June 10, after the signing by representatives of the FRY and NATO of an agreement on the entry into Kosovo international forces security (KFOR).

Among the refugees who left Kosovo during the hostilities, there were approximately 350 thousand people of non-Albanian nationality. Many of them settled in Serbia, where the total number of displaced persons reached 800,000, and the number of those who lost their jobs was about 500,000.

In 2000, parliamentary and presidential elections in the FRY and local elections in Serbia and Kosovo. The opposition parties nominated a single candidate - the leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica - for the presidency. On September 24, he won the election, gaining more than 50% of the vote (Milosevic - only 37%). Summer 2001 ex-president The FRY was extradited to the International Tribunal in The Hague as a war criminal.

On March 14, 2002, with the mediation of the European Union, an agreement was signed on the creation of a new state - Serbia and Montenegro (Vojvodina became autonomous shortly before that). However, interethnic relations are still too fragile, and the domestic political and economic situation in the country is unstable. In the summer of 2001, shots were fired again: Kosovo militants became more active, and this gradually developed into an open conflict between Kosovo Albanian and Macedonia, which lasted about a year. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who authorized the transfer of Milosevic to the tribunal, was shot dead on March 12, 2003. sniper rifle. Apparently, the "Balkan knot" will not be untied soon.

In 2006, Montenegro finally separated from Serbia and became an independent state. The European Union and the United States made an unprecedented decision and recognized the independence of Kosovo as a sovereign state.

Breakup of Yugoslavia

Like all countries of the socialist camp, Yugoslavia in the late 80s was shaken by internal contradictions caused by the rethinking of socialism. In 1990, for the first time in the post-war period, free parliamentary elections were held in the republics of the SFRY on a multi-party basis. In Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, the communists were defeated. They won only in Serbia and Montenegro. But the victory of the anti-communist forces not only did not mitigate the inter-republican contradictions, but also painted them in national-separatist tones. As in the situation with the collapse of the USSR, the Yugoslavs were taken by surprise by the suddenness of the uncontrolled collapse of the federal state. If the role of the "national" catalyst in the USSR was played by the Baltic countries, then in Yugoslavia this role was taken by Slovenia and Croatia. The failure of the GKChP speech and the victory of democracy led to the bloodless formation of their state structures by the former republics during the collapse of the USSR.

The disintegration of Yugoslavia, unlike the USSR, took place according to the most sinister scenario. The democratic forces that were emerging here (primarily Serbia) failed to avert the tragedy, which led to grave consequences. As in the USSR, national minorities, feeling a decrease in pressure from the Yugoslav authorities (increasingly making various kinds of concessions), immediately asked for independence and, having been refused by Belgrade, took up arms, further events and led to the complete collapse of Yugoslavia.

A. Markovich

I. Tito, a Croat by nationality, creating a federation of Yugoslav peoples, sought to protect it from Serbian nationalism. Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had long been the subject of disputes between Serbs and Croats, received a compromise state status, first of two, and then of three peoples - Serbs, Croats and ethnic Muslims. As part of the federal structure of Yugoslavia, the Macedonians and Montenegrins received their own nation-states. The 1974 Constitution provided for the creation of two autonomous provinces on the territory of Serbia - Kosovo and Vojvodina. Thanks to this, the issue of the status of national minorities (Albanians in Kosovo, Hungarians and over 20 ethnic groups in Vojvodina) on the territory of Serbia was settled. Although the Serbs living on the territory of Croatia did not receive autonomy, but according to the Constitution they had the status of a state-forming nation in Croatia. Tito was afraid that the state system he had created would collapse after his death, and he was not mistaken. Serb S. Milosevic, thanks to his destructive policy, the trump card of which was the game on the national feelings of the Serbs, destroyed the state created by "old Tito".

Let's not forget that the first challenge to Yugoslavia's political balance came from the Albanians in the autonomous province of Kosovo in southern Serbia. The population of the region by that time was almost 90% Albanians and 10% Serbs, Montenegrins and others. In April 1981, the majority of Albanians took part in demonstrations, rallies, demanding the status of a republic for the province. In response, Belgrade sent troops to Kosovo, declaring a state of emergency there. The situation was aggravated by the Belgrade “recolonization plan”, which guaranteed the Serbs moving to the region, work and housing. Belgrade sought to artificially increase the number of Serbs in the region in order to annul the autonomous formation. In response, the Albanians began to leave the Communist Party and perpetrate repressions against the Serbs and Montenegrins. By the autumn of 1989, demonstrations and riots in Kosovo were ruthlessly suppressed by the Serbian military authorities. By the spring of 1990, the Serbian National Assembly announced the dissolution of the government and the people's assembly of Kosovo and introduced censorship. The Kosovo issue had a distinct geopolitical dimension to Serbia, which was concerned about Tirana's plans to create a "Greater Albania", which meant the inclusion of ethnic Albanian territories such as Kosovo and parts of Macedonia and Montenegro. Serbia's actions in Kosovo gave it a very bad reputation in the eyes of the world community, but it is ironic that the same community said nothing when a similar incident took place in Croatia in August 1990. The Serbian minority in the town of Knin in the Serbian Krajina decided to hold a referendum on the question of cultural autonomy. As in Kosovo, this turned into riots, quelled by the Croatian leadership, which rejected the referendum as unconstitutional.

Thus, in Yugoslavia, by the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, all the prerequisites were created for the entry of national minorities into the struggle for their independence. Neither the Yugoslav leadership nor the world community could prevent this except by force of arms. Therefore, it is not surprising that events in Yugoslavia unfolded with such swiftness.

Slovenia was the first to take the official step of breaking off relations with Belgrade and defining its independence. The tension between the "Serbian" and "Slavic-Croatian" blocs in the ranks of the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia reached its climax in February 1990 at the XIV Congress, when the Slovenian delegation left the meeting.

At that time, there were three plans for the state reorganization of the country: confederal reorganization, put forward by the Presidiums of Slovenia and Croatia; federal reorganization - of the Union Presidium; "Platform on the future of the Yugoslav state" - Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. But the meetings of the republican leaders showed that the main goal of the multi-party elections and the referendum was not the democratic transformation of the Yugoslav community, but the legitimization of the programs for the future reorganization of the country put forward by the leaders of the republics.

Slovenian public opinion since 1990 began to look for a solution in the withdrawal of Slovenia from Yugoslavia. On July 2, 1990, the Parliament, elected on a multi-party basis, adopted the Declaration on the Sovereignty of the Republic, and on June 25, 1991, Slovenia declared its independence. Serbia already in 1991 agreed with the withdrawal of Slovenia from Yugoslavia. However, Slovenia sought to become the successor united state as a result of "disengagement", and not secession from Yugoslavia.

In the second half of 1991, this republic took decisive steps towards achieving independence, thus determining to a large extent the pace of development of the Yugoslav crisis and the nature of the behavior of other republics. First of all, Croatia, which feared that with the withdrawal of Slovenia from Yugoslavia, the balance of power in the country would be upset to its detriment. The unsuccessful end of the inter-republican negotiations, the growing mutual distrust between national leaders, as well as between the Yugoslav peoples, the arming of the population on a national basis, the creation of the first paramilitary formations - all this contributed to the creation of an explosive situation that led to armed conflicts.

The climax of the political crisis came in May-June as a result of the declaration of independence of Slovenia and Croatia on June 25, 1991. Slovenia accompanied this act with the capture of border checkpoints, where the insignia of the state distinction of the republic were installed. The government of the SFRY, headed by A. Markovic, recognized this as illegal and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) guarded the external borders of Slovenia. As a result, from June 27 to July 2, battles took place here with well-organized detachments of the republican territorial defense of Slovenia. The six-day war in Slovenia was short and inglorious for the JNA. The army did not achieve any of its goals, losing forty soldiers and officers. Not much compared to the future thousands of victims, but proof that no one will give up their independence just like that, even if it has not yet been recognized.

In Croatia, the war took on the character of a clash between the Serb population, who wanted to remain part of Yugoslavia, on the side of which the JNA soldiers were, and the Croatian armed units, who sought to prevent the separation of part of the territory of the republic.

In the elections to the Croatian Parliament in 1990, the Croatian Democratic Community won. In August - September 1990, armed clashes between local Serbs and the Croatian police and guards began here in Klinskaya Krajina. In December of the same year, the Council of Croatia adopted a new Constitution, declaring the republic "unitary and indivisible".

The allied leadership could not accept this, since Belgrade had its own plans for the future of the Serbian enclaves in Croatia, in which a large community of Serbian expatriates lived. The local Serbs responded to the new Constitution by creating the Serbian Autonomous Region in February 1991.

On June 25, 1991 Croatia declared its independence. As in the case of Slovenia, the government of the SFRY declared this decision illegal, declaring claims to part of Croatia, namely the Serbian Krajina. On this basis, fierce armed clashes took place between Serbs and Croats with the participation of JNA units. In the Croatian war, there were no longer minor skirmishes, as in Slovenia, but real battles using various types of weapons. And the losses in these battles on both sides were enormous: about 10 thousand killed, including several thousand civilians, more than 700 thousand refugees moved to neighboring countries.

At the end of 1991, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on sending peacekeeping forces to Yugoslavia, and the EU Council of Ministers imposed sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro. In February-March 1992, on the basis of a resolution, a contingent of UN peacekeeping forces arrived in Croatia. It also included a Russian battalion. With the help of international forces, hostilities were somehow contained, but the excessive cruelty of the warring parties, especially towards the civilian population, pushed them to mutual revenge, which led to new clashes.

On the initiative of Russia, on May 4, 1995, at an urgently convened meeting of the UN Security Council, the invasion of Croatian troops into the zone of separation was condemned. At the same time, the Security Council condemned the Serbian shelling of Zagreb and other civilian concentration centers. In August 1995, after the punitive operations of the Croatian troops, about 500 thousand Krajina Serbs were forced to flee their lands, and the exact number of victims of this operation is still unknown. So Zagreb solved the problem of a national minority on its territory, while the West turned a blind eye to the actions of Croatia, limiting itself to calls for an end to the bloodshed.

The center of the Serbian-Croatian conflict was moved to the territory that was disputed from the very beginning - to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here, the Serbs and Croats began to demand the division of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina or its reorganization on a confederate basis by creating ethnic cantons. The Muslim Democratic Action Party headed by A. Izetbegovic, which advocated a unitary civil republic Bosnia and Herzegovina. In turn, this aroused the suspicion of the Serbian side, who believed that it was about creating an "Islamic fundamentalist republic", 40% of whose population were Muslims.

All attempts at a peaceful settlement different reasons did not lead to the desired result. In October 1991, the Muslim and Croatian deputies of the Assembly adopted a memorandum on the sovereignty of the republic. The Serbs, on the other hand, found it unacceptable for them to remain with minority status outside of Yugoslavia, in a state dominated by the Muslim-Croatian coalition.

In January 1992, the republic appealed to the European Community to recognize its independence, the Serb deputies left the parliament, boycotted its further work and refused to participate in the referendum, in which the majority of the population voted for the creation of a sovereign state. In response, the local Serbs created their Assembly, and when the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina was recognized by the EU countries, the USA, Russia, the Serbian community announced the creation of the Serbian Republic in Bosnia. The confrontation escalated into an armed conflict, with the participation of various armed formations, ranging from small armed groups to the JNA. Bosnia and Herzegovina on its territory had a huge amount of equipment, weapons and ammunition that were stored there or were left by the JNA that left the republic. All this became an excellent fuel for the outbreak of armed conflict.

In her article, former British Prime Minister M. Thatcher wrote: “Terrible things are happening in Bosnia, and it looks like it will be even worse. Sarajevo is under constant shelling. Gorazde is besieged and is about to be occupied by the Serbs. Massacres are likely to begin there... Such is the Serbian policy of "ethnic cleansing", that is, the expulsion of the non-Serb population from Bosnia...

From the very beginning, the ostensibly independent Serb military formations in Bosnia operate in close contact with the Serbian Army High Command in Belgrade, which actually supports them and supplies them with everything necessary for the war. The West should present an ultimatum to the Serbian government, demanding, in particular, to stop economic support for Bosnia, sign an agreement on the demilitarization of Bosnia, facilitate the unimpeded return of refugees to Bosnia, etc.”

Held in August 1992 in London international Conference led to the fact that the leader of the Bosnian Serbs, R. Karadzic, promised to withdraw troops from the occupied territory, transfer heavy weapons to UN control, and close camps that held Muslims and Croats. S. Milosevic agreed to allow international observers into the JNA units stationed in Bosnia, pledged to recognize the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and respect its borders. The parties fulfilled their promises, although the peacekeepers have more than once had to call on the warring parties to end the clashes and ceasefire.

Obviously, the international community should have demanded from Slovenia, Croatia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina to give certain guarantees to the national minorities living on their territory. In December 1991, when the war was in Croatia, the EU adopted criteria for the recognition of new states in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, in particular, “guaranteeing the rights of ethnic and national groups and minorities in accordance with the commitments made within the CSCE; respect for the inviolability of all frontiers, which cannot be altered except by peaceful means by common consent.” This criterion was not very strictly enforced when it came to Serb minorities.

Interestingly, the West and Russia at this stage could have prevented violence in Yugoslavia by formulating clear principles for self-determination and putting forward preconditions for the recognition of new states. A legal framework would be of great importance, since it has a decisive influence on such serious issues as territorial integrity, self-determination, the right to self-determination, the rights of national minorities. Russia, of course, should have been interested in developing such principles, since it faced and still faces similar problems in the former USSR.

But it is especially striking that after the bloodshed in Croatia, the EU, followed by the US and Russia, repeated the same mistake in Bosnia, recognizing its independence without any preconditions and without regard for the position of the Bosnian Serbs. The rash recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina made war there inevitable. Although the West forced the Bosnian Croats and Muslims to coexist in one state and, together with Russia, tried to put pressure on the Bosnian Serbs, the structure of this federation is still artificial, and many do not believe that it will last long.

The prejudiced attitude of the EU towards the Serbs as the main culprits of the conflict also makes one think. At the end of 1992 - beginning of 1993. Russia has raised several times in the UN Security Council the issue of the need to influence Croatia. The Croats initiated several armed clashes in the Serbian Krajina, disrupting a meeting on the Krajina problem organized by representatives of the UN, they tried to blow up a hydroelectric power station on the territory of Serbia - the UN and other organizations did nothing to stop them.

The same tolerance distinguished the attitude international community to the Bosnian Muslims. In April 1994, the Bosnian Serbs were subjected to air strikes by NATO for their attacks on Gorazde, which were interpreted as a threat to the safety of UN personnel, although some of these attacks were instigated by Muslims. Encouraged by international condescension, Bosnian Muslims have resorted to the same tactics in Brcko, Tuzla and other Muslim enclaves under the protection of UN forces. They tried to provoke the Serbs by attacking their positions, because they knew that the Serbs would again be subjected to NATO air raids if they tried to retaliate.

By the end of 1995, the Russian Foreign Ministry was in an extremely difficult position. The state's policy of rapprochement with the West has led to the fact that almost all undertakings Western countries to resolve conflicts, Russia supported. Addiction Russian politics from regular foreign currency loans led to the rapid advancement of NATO in the role leading organization. And yet, Russia's attempts to resolve the conflicts were not in vain, forcing the opposing sides to the negotiating table from time to time. Carrying out political activity within the boundaries permitted by its Western partners, Russia has ceased to be a factor determining the course of events in the Balkans. Russia once voted for the establishment of peace by military means in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the use of NATO forces. Having a military training ground in the Balkans, NATO no longer represented any other way to solve any new problem, except for the armed one. This played a decisive role in resolving the Kosovo problem, the most dramatic of the Balkan conflicts.

Proletarian internationalism - this is the ideology that reigned on the territory of the Yugoslav Republic in the 40-60s.

Popular unrest was successfully suppressed by the dictatorship of IB Tito. However, already in the early 60s, supporters of reforms increased their influence on the masses and the republican movement in the territories of such modern countries as Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia began to gain momentum. This went on for about a decade, until the dictator realized his precarious position. The defeat of the Serbian liberals was preceded by the fall of the "Croatian spring". The same fate awaited the Slovenian "technocrats".

It's the mid 70's. On the basis of national hostility, relations between the population of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia escalated. And May 1980 brought for someone a sad, but for someone a joyful event about the death of dictator Tito. The presidential office was abolished and power was concentrated in the hands of a new authorized body called the collective leadership, which did not receive recognition from the people.

Reasons for the collapse of the SFRY

1981 Intensification of conflicts in Kosovo between Serbs and Albanians. The first clashes began, the news of which soon spread throughout the world. This is one of the main reasons for the future collapse of the republic.

Another reason for the collapse of statehood was the SANI Memorandum, published in the Belgrade newspaper press. The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts analyzed the political situation of the republic and compared them with the demands of the Serbian population.

The document became a manifesto, which was skillfully used by Serbian nationalists. However, the official authorities criticized its content, and it was supported by other republics that were part of Yugoslavia.

Serbs rallied under political slogans calling for the defense of Kosovo. And on June 28, 1989, Slobodan Milosevic addressed them and urged them to be loyal to their homeland, ignoring the difficulties and humiliation associated with cultural and economic inequality. After the rallies, riots broke out, which eventually led to bloodshed. Ethnic disputes led to NATO military intervention.

Today, the majority expresses the opinion that it was NATO troops that served as the main impetus for the collapse of the state. However, this is only one of the stages of disintegration that has been going on for decades. As a result of the collapse, independent states were formed and the division of property began, which continued until 2004. The Serbs were recognized as the most affected in this protracted bloody war, and Yugoslavia fell apart on the basis of national hatred and third-party intervention of interested countries - this is the opinion of most historians.

At the end of the XX century. three states collapsed: the USSR, the SFRY and Czechoslovakia. The peoples of these countries failed to fully enjoy the fruits of the victory over fascism. They became part of a single "socialist community", deeply integrated their economy, and took a worthy place in international affairs. Having acted as pioneers of a grandiose social experiment, they tried to implement the ideals of socialism in state practice. Failing and disappointed in them, they almost simultaneously turned onto another road.

The independent state of the South Slavic peoples was formed in Europe in 1918. Since 1929, it became known as Yugoslavia, in 1945, after the country was liberated from fascist occupation, it was proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, and in 1963 it received the name of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). It included the union republics of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro.

In addition, two autonomous regions were identified as part of Serbia - Vojvodina (with a significant Hungarian population) and Kosovo and Metohija (with a predominance of the Albanian population).

Despite the kinship of all the South Slavic peoples, significant religious and ethnolinguistic differences remained between them. So, Serbs, Montenegrins and Macedonians profess the Orthodox religion, Croats and Slovenes - Catholic, and Albanians and Muslim Slavs - Islam.

Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins and Muslim Slavs speak Serbo-Croatian, Slovenes speak Slovene, and Macedonians speak Macedonian. Two scripts were used in the SFRY - based on Cyrillic (Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia) and Latin (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). It is important to emphasize that these ethnolinguistic features were supplemented by very significant differences of a socio-economic nature, primarily between the more developed Croatia and Slovenia and the less developed other parts of the SFRY, which also exacerbated many social contradictions. For example, Orthodox and Catholics believed that one of the main reasons high level unemployment in the country is the highest population growth in its Muslim areas.

For the time being, the authorities of the SFRY managed to prevent extreme manifestations of nationalism and separatism. However, in 1991-1992. ethnic intolerance, aggravated by the fact that many borders between the union republics were initially drawn without due consideration for the national and ethnic composition of the population, acquired a very large scale, and many political parties began to act under frankly nationalist slogans.

As a result, it was during these years that the SFRY collapsed: in 1991, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia stood out from it, and in 1992 a new Yugoslav federation was formed - the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), which included Serbia and Montenegro (Fig. 10). This fleeting disintegration of the SFRY proceeded in various forms- both relatively peaceful (Slovenia, Macedonia) and extremely violent (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The secession of Slovenia was of the most peaceful character, during which, although it was not possible to avoid a small armed conflict, it turned out to be only an episode in this rather calm “divorce” process. And in the future, no serious political, and even more so military-political complications did not arise here.

The separation of Macedonia from the SFRY was accompanied not by a military, but by a diplomatic conflict. After the declaration of independence of this state, neighboring Greece refused to recognize it. The point here is that until 1912 Macedonia was part of the Ottoman Empire, and after the liberation from Turkish rule, its territory was divided between Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Albania.

Consequently, independent Macedonia, separated from the SFRY, covered only one of the four parts of this historical region, and Greece was afraid that the new state would lay claim to its Greek part as well. Therefore, in the end, Macedonia was admitted to the UN with the wording "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".

Much larger military-political complications were accompanied by the separation from the former SFRY of Croatia, in the population of which in the early 1990s. the share of Serbs exceeded 12%, and some of its regions have long been considered primordially Serbian.

First of all, this refers to the so-called Military Extreme - the border region, created back in the 16th-18th centuries. Austria and preserved in the XIX century. after the formation of Austria-Hungary along the border with the Ottoman Empire.

It was here that many Orthodox Serbs settled, who fled from the persecution of the Turks. Based on their numerical superiority, these Serbs, even during the existence of the SFRY, announced the creation of their Autonomous Region of Krajina within the Federal Republic of Croatia, and after Croatia left the SFRY at the end of 1991, they proclaimed the formation of an independent Republic of Serbian Krajina with a center in Knin , announcing its separation from Croatia.

However, this self-proclaimed republic was not recognized by the UN, which sent a peacekeeping contingent to Croatia to prevent the military development of the conflict.

And in 1995, Croatia, choosing the moment when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was economically greatly weakened by a severe embargo from Western countries, sent its troops to Krajina, and a few days later the Republic of Croatian Serbs ceased to exist. In 1998, Croatia also regained the territory of Eastern Slavonia, captured by the Serbs back in 1991 as a result of a bloody military operation. This development of events gave reason to the Serbian radicals to accuse the then President of the FRY Slobodan Milosevic of "betraying Krayna."

The arena of an even more irreconcilable military-political and ethno-religious confrontation was the former Soviet republic of the SFRY of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was distinguished by the most multinational composition of the population, which for many centuries served as the root cause of various kinds of ethnic conflicts.

According to the 1991 census, Serbs made up 31% of its inhabitants, Muslims 44, Croats 17%, and the rest were other ethnic groups. After the declaration of independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it turned out that Serbs make up the majority in its northern and eastern regions, Muslims in the central regions, and Croats in the western regions.

The reluctance of Serbs and Croats to end up in a Muslim state, and Muslims in a Christian one from the very beginning of the independent existence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, led to a confrontation between them, which in the spring of 1992 escalated into a civil war.

At its first stage, the Bosnian Serbs won, who, relying on the forces of the Yugoslav army stationed in the republic, captured almost 3/4 of its entire territory, starting "ethnic cleansing" in Muslim areas and actually turning Muslim cities into enclaves, surrounded on all sides by Serbian troops.

The most striking example of this kind is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo, the siege of which by the Serbs lasted more than three years and cost the lives of tens of thousands of its inhabitants. As a result of the national-religious delimitation on the territory with a predominance of the Serbian population, the Bosnian Republika Srpska was proclaimed. Croats and Muslims at first also formed their own republics, but in 1994, on the basis of an anti-Serb union, they created a single Bosnian Muslim-Croat federation.

At the same time, during the war, a turning point occurred not in favor of the Serbs, which can be explained by several reasons.

First, against the government of the FRY, accused of interfering in the affairs of a neighboring state and armed support for the struggle of the Bosnian Serbs, the UN Security Council imposed severe international sanctions.

Secondly, the leader of the unrecognized Bosnian Republic of Srpska, Radovan Karadzic, was accused of organizing "ethnic cleansing" and declared a war criminal.

Thirdly, the Western allies and many Muslim states began to arm the army of the Bosnian Muslims, the combat capability of which, as a result, increased markedly.

Finally, fourthly, American, British and French aircraft began to bomb the positions of the Bosnian Serbs.

The Bosnian war ended in the late autumn of 1995. Under the peace agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina formally retained the status of an independent state with a single president, parliament, central government and other authorities.

But in fact it was divided into two parts. One of them was formed by the Muslim-Croatian Federation with a territory of 26 thousand km2, a population of 2.3 million people and a capital in Sarajevo, which has its own president, parliament and government. On the other side, the Republika Srpska was formed with a territory of 25,000 km2, a population of more than 1 million people, and the capital in Banja Luka.

The configuration of the territory of the Republika Srpska is very bizarre: following the settlement of the Bosnian Serbs, it borders, as it were, the more compact territory of the Muslim-Croat federation on the northern and eastern sides. The Republika Srpska also has its own president, its own parliament and government.

Both the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Republika Srpska are self-proclaimed states, since neither is recognized by the UN. Many of the old contradictions remain between them, especially in view of the insufficiently clearly defined border line.

So new armed conflicts are avoided here mainly due to the fact that at the end of 1995, NATO troops were sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina under the flag of peacekeeping, and then the UN peacekeeping contingent; his mandate has already been extended several times. The international peacekeeping forces also include Russian troops.

However, all this is only a visible stabilization of the situation, which has not resolved the main controversial issues. For example, peacekeeping forces have failed to ensure the return of refugees to their places of origin. But this is hardly the main task democratization of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to the UN, the number of refugees in the entire territory of the former SFRY amounted to 2.3 million people, with the vast majority of them in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Fig. 1). And only about 400 thousand of them returned, including a little more than 200 thousand to Bosnia and Herzegovina. a few percent.

south slavic nationalist politics ethnic

Much more difficult than in other Eastern European countries, the transformations took place in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).

This country after the conflict between I.V. Stalin and Josip Broz Tito was not part of the Soviet system of alliances, maintained close trade and economic relations with the states of the West. Reforms of the 1950s-1960s consisted in the introduction of self-management in production, the development of elements market economy. At the same time, a monopoly on power was maintained by one party - Union of Communists of Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia consisted of six republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro. The borders of the republics did not always coincide with the settlement of the main ethnic groups in the country: Croats, Slovenes, Serbs, Montenegrins and Macedonians. A significant part of the population were the so-called Muslims- the descendants of the Slavs who converted to Islam during the time of Turkish domination. In the past, the peoples of Yugoslavia were part of different states and for a long time developed separately from each other. Relations between them were not always successful, often aggravated due to religious differences. Existed in Yugoslavia political regime when power belonged to the Communist Party, headed by such a strong-willed leader as I.B. Tito, for the time being, provided the federation with international peace. However, the deep socio-economic crisis that engulfed all socialist countries in the late 1980s contributed to the emergence of ethnic and religious contradictions. Yugoslavia faced the threat of disintegration.

Serbia And Montenegro advocated the preservation of the unity of the republic and its original model of socialism. It didn't suit Croatia And Slovenia who sought to strengthen ties with Western European countries. Expressed dissatisfaction with the federation Bosnia and Herzegovina where the influence of Islam was strong, as well as Macedonia.

The crisis and dissatisfaction with the federation was actively supported by the United States and Western European countries, which did not need a strong and united Yugoslavia.

Interethnic relations exacerbated in other multinational Eastern European countries. But if separation Czechoslovakia in 1992 into two states - Czech Republic and Slovakia- passed peacefully, the territory of Yugoslavia became the scene of armed conflicts. IN 1991 Yugoslavia collapsed, the attempt of the federal authorities to preserve its integrity by force of arms was not successful.

Maintaining close ties Serbia and Montenegro created a new federal state - Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia became independent states.

But the crisis did not end there, as the Serb minority remaining in the territory of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina began the struggle for autonomy. This fight turned into armed conflict, which killed about 100 thousand people. In 1992 - 1995 he was at the center of international attention. Then the problem of the position of Muslim Albanians, who made up 90% of the population, came to the fore. Kosovo. The Serbian government's cancellation of the region's autonomy aroused their discontent. The protests turned into an armed struggle, the participants of which were no longer limited to the demand for the restoration of autonomy.

In 1999, the United States and its allies, without the sanction of the UN Security Council, launched military operations against the FRY. This led to an aggravation of relations between the United States and Russia, which condemned NATO aggression against a sovereign state.

The result of the war unleashed by the United States against Serbia was the death of about 2 thousand civilians. From the use of bombs with uranium filling, about 500 thousand people received radiation injuries. 2.5 million people have lost the necessary conditions for life (housing, drinking water etc.). The economy of the FRY suffered losses of more than 100 billion dollars, which set it back 5-7 years.

In Serbia, after mass demonstrations in support of the democratic opposition candidate for the presidency Vojislav Kostunica the regime fell Slobodan Milosevic. On April 1, 2001, Milosevic was arrested, and on June 28 of the same year, at the initiative of the Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic secretly transferred The Hague International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia which angered the President Kostunitsy. Milosevic did not recognize the legitimacy of the Hague Tribunal and refused lawyers, saying that he would defend himself.

IN February 2002. Milosevic delivered a long defense speech in The Hague, in which he refuted several dozen points of the accusation (and also recorded the inconsistency of this trial with a number of international legal regulations- that is, in fact, its illegality in terms of international law). In addition, in his speech, Milosevic gave a detailed analysis of the background, origins and course of the NATO war against Yugoslavia. Presented evidence (including photo and video materials) of a number of NATO war crimes: the use of prohibited weapons such as cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions, the deliberate destruction of non-military targets, numerous civilian attacks.

In his speech, Milosevic also pointed out that the bombings carried out by the alliance did not and could not have military significance: for example, as a result of all missile and bomb attacks on the territory of Kosovo, only 7 tanks of the Serbian army were destroyed. Milosevic specifically noted (citing specific, proven examples) that a significant part of the missile and bomb strikes against civilian population the victims were ethnic Albanians, and by this he tried to prove the thesis that massive NATO attacks against Albanian peasants were not unintentional, but were a deliberate move designed to provoke their mass exodus from Kosovo to neighboring states. The presence of masses of Albanian refugees could, in the eyes of the world community, confirm the accusation of the Serbs in the genocide of the Albanians - the main thesis put forward by the NATO leadership as the basis for the "operation". The same goal, according to Milosevic, was served by the reprisals of Albanian militants over those Albanians who did not want to leave Kosovo (from which, in particular, Milosevic concluded that the actions of the Albanian armed forces, on the one hand, and the leadership of the NATO operation, on the other. ) As one of the proofs of this thesis, Milosevic pointed to leaflets in the Albanian language, which contained calls for the Albanian population to flee Kosovo (these leaflets were scattered from NATO planes).

The text of Milosevic's defense speech - regardless of how one relates to this political figure, gives a broad look at the dramatic events that took place in Serbia and other former Yugoslav republics in the 90s of the twentieth century. The trial in the case of Slobodan Milosevic was not completed, as he died in prison in The Hague from a myocardial infarction March 11, 2006.

June 3, 2011 appeared before the Hague Tribunal, the former chief of staff of the Army of the Republika Srpska (1992-1995), General Ratko Mladic. His capture was the main condition for Serbia's entry into the European Union. Earlier, Mladic himself said about the Hague Tribunal that this court was created only to shift all the blame on the Serbs. He even promised that he himself would come to The Hague immediately after “those generals who fought in Vietnam and bombed Yugoslavia arrive there voluntarily.”

Contradictions between Serbia and Montenegro escalated. According to the results of a referendum held by the Montenegrin authorities in 2006, it became independent state. Yugoslavia ceased to exist.

In 2008, the Serbian province of Kosovo, occupied by NATO troops, unilaterally declared independence. Contrary to the position of the UN, the United States and a number of its allies recognized the self-proclaimed state of the Kosovo Albanians. Thus, a most dangerous precedent was set, violating the international ban on changing borders in Europe after the Second World War. Separatists in many countries considered themselves entitled to count on international support contrary to the UN Charter.