Lavrov Dates the 1999 NATO Bombing of Serbia as Beginning the End of International Law

March 22, 2019 (EIRNS)—In an interview with Russia’s NTV “U-Turn Above the Atlantic” documentary, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov charged that NATO’s bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999 was the beginning of the dismantling of the system of international law and the beginning of a “rules-based” system in which the rules are made by the West and enforced by military action. “The Western countries are now increasingly referring to a ‘rules-based order’ instead of calling on everyone to adhere to international laws,” he said, reported Sputnik today. International laws came about as the result of talks among nations where consensus was reached, whereas “rules are being invented by the Westerners themselves,” he said. Referring to the NATO war on Serbia, he continued, “That is when it started, 20 years ago.”

The interview was for a documentary that NTV is airing on the 20th anniversary this week of the NATO bombing. The title refers to the first ever meeting between Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and President Bill Clinton scheduled as a state visit in Washington at that time. Primakov was in flight midway across the Atlantic, when Al Gore phoned him to say that NATO had begun bombing Serbia. The Prime Minister ordered his plane to reverse course, and the meeting never took place.