Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.46672/po-mest.28.1-2.1
About Captured French Pilots During the Deliberate Force Operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995.
Kosta Nikolić
orcid.org/0000-0002-2451-8918
; Institut za suvremenu povijest Beograd
Abstract
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina relationships between political and military leadership of Republika Srpska and NATO were very complex and turbulent. The first concrete step towards international intervention was taken on August 13, 1992, when the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that activated Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which provides for the use of armed force to ensure international peace. On October 9, 1992, the Security Council banned all military flights in BiH airspace, except for United Nations Protection Force flights. Then NATO on April 12, 1993 launched Operation “Deny Flight”. This decision only affected the Serbs, as the other two warring parties did not even have aviation. Since 1994, NATO has undertaken a series of limited military actions against the Army of Republika Srpska when it attacked United Nations protected zones: Goražde and Bihać (1994) and Sarajevo and Tuzla (1995). However, the air strikes had minimal results. When the Serbian army captured Srebrenica in July 1995, a plan was developed for a large air offensive aimed to undermine the military capability of the Serbian army NATO launched Operation Deliberate Force which began on August 30. The shelling of the Sarajevo marketplace on 28 August 1995 by the Serbian army is considered to be the immediate instigating factor behind NATO’s decision to launch the operation. Although the Serbian army did not suffer major technical or human losses in these attacks, they changed the course of the war and accelerated its end. On the first day of the air attacks, the Serbian army shot down a French Mirage 2000 aircraft. Two crew members were captured and held in captivity for more than three months. The CIA and the State Security of Serbia initially participated in the operation to free the French pilots, which yielded no results. Then France turned to Russia for help.
After lengthy and complex negotiations with General Ratko Mladić, commander of the Serbian army, in which some of the leading Russian military intelligence officers participated, the pilots were released on December 12, 1995. General Mladić wanted to avoid extradition to the Hague Tribunal in this way, but he did not succeed. With the final verdict of June 8,
2021, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
341847
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2025.
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