Twenty-six years ago today, on June 12, 1999, 50,000 NATO troops entered Kosovo, marking the end of a nearly two-year war and ushering in a period of peace and reconstruction under a temporary United Nations administration. This day, celebrated by many as the day of liberation, remains one of the most significant in Kosovo’s history.
The NATO-led military intervention, which saw 78 days of bombing campaigns against Serb-Montenegrin military targets in Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro, culminated in the entry of the KFOR peacekeeping mission. This brought an end to the conflict between the Albanian insurgent population, organized within the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and the occupying Serb-Montenegrin military and police forces.
A Pivotal Moment: The Standoff at Pristina Airport
June 12, 1999, is also remembered by global military and diplomatic figures as a day that nearly led to a confrontation between the West and Russia, a moment some feared could have ignited a “Third World War.” The first NATO soldiers to enter Kosovo were Norwegian special forces and the British Special Air Service (SAS). They found themselves face-to-face with Russian troops who had “surprisingly” seized Pristina Airport the day before, reportedly with the aim of dividing Kosovo.
Russia had intended to bring in thousands of air reinforcements, but following intervention from Washington, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania refused Moscow’s request to use their airspace. After an American-British blockade of the airport runway, the Russian Foreign Ministry reportedly deemed its soldiers’ intervention “a mistake.” The rest, as they say, is history.
Return and Reconstruction
The entry of NATO forces paved the way for the return of over one million Kosovo Albanians who had been displaced as refugees across dozens of countries and several continents worldwide.
To date, nearly 500,000 peacekeeping personnel from numerous countries, predominantly Western ones, have served in Kosovo. These individuals sacrificed a part of their lives, staying far from their families and loved ones, to contribute to the freedom, security, and peace in Kosovo.
