Rubin: We convinced Europe about Rambouillet, we told Serbia ‘if you don’t accept, we will attack you’, we warned the Albanians that we would not support them

Rubin: We convinced Europe about Rambouillet, we told Serbia ‘if you don’t accept, we will attack you’, we warned the Albanians that we would not support them

Former US Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin shared details from the negotiations to end the war in Kosovo, which took place in Rambouillet in 1999.

The American diplomat recalled during his testimony at the Special Court in The Hague that he had convinced the Europeans that the Rambouillet Agreement and the subsequent bombings were “the right move.”

“Some people thought it wasn’t the right move, but Secretary Albright thought it was the right move and President Clinton thought the same thing. We convinced the Europeans that this was the right move and we told them that of course, we would take a dramatic move, but at the same time we would be diplomatic,” he said.

Rubin explained what the US warnings were for Albanians and Serbs in the event of not signing the agreement.

“We told both sides: this is the agreement, and in the case of the Serbian forces, we told them, if you do not accept the agreement, you will be attacked from the air. While we told the Albanian side: agree to this agreement, or you will no longer have our support.”