Kosovo commemorated this Sunday, June 12, 1999, the day when NATO troops entered the country ending the nearly two-year war between the Albanian insurgent population organized in the ranks of the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbo-Montenegrin military and police forces.

This event, which is widely considered as the day of liberation and one of the greatest days in the history of Kosovo, is being commemorated with numerous activities in the capital Prishtina and other municipalities in the country. President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti initially paid homage at the grave of former President Ibrahim Rugova.

Then they honored the figure of activist Adem Demaci, and went to Prekaz where he paid homage near the grave of the legendary commander Adem Jashari.

The first NATO troops to enter Kosovo on June 12, after 78 days of bombing by the US-led Western Alliance against Serbian-Montenegrin military positions in Kosovo. Were Norwegian special forces and those of the British Special Air Service, finding themselves face to face with Russian troops who the day before ‘suddenly’ had taken over Prishtina Airport with the aim of partitioning Kosovo.

Russia aimed to send thousands of reinforcements from the air, but after intervention from Washington, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania rejected Moscow’s request to use their airspace. Following the US-British blockade of the airport runway, the Russian Foreign Ministry called the intervention of its troops ‘a mistake.’ The entry of NATO troops into Kosovo paved the way for them to return to their homeland nearly a millions of Kosovo Albanians.