The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (often shortened to Serbia and Montenegro), known from 1992 to 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and commonly referred to as Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeastern Europe. It was established on 27 April 1992 as a federation comprising the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia). In February 2003, the federation was reconstituted as a state union. Following the secession of Montenegro in June 2006, Serbia proclaimed independence.
Its aspirations to be the sole legal successor state to the SFR Yugoslavia were not recognized by the United Nations, following the passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 777, which affirmed that the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had ceased to exist, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a new state. This made the Federal Republic ineligible to inherit the Socialist Federal Republic's international legal personality, since it had dissolved, with all former republics entitled to state succession. The government of Slobodan Milošević opposed any such claims, and as such, the FR Yugoslavia was not allowed to join the United Nations.
Throughout its existence, the FR Yugoslavia had a tense relationship with the international community, as economic sanctions were issued against the state during the course of the Yugoslav Wars and Kosovo War. This also resulted in hyperinflation between 1992 and 1994. The Yugoslav Wars ended with the Dayton Agreement, which recognized the independence of the Republic of Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as establishing diplomatic relationships between the states, and a guaranteed role of the Serbian population within Bosnian politics.
Later on, growing separatism within the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, a region of Serbia heavily populated by ethnic Albanians, resulted in an insurrection by the Kosovo Liberation Army, an Albanian separatist group. The outbreak of the Kosovo War reintroduced international sanctions, as well as eventual NATO involvement in the conflict. The conflict ended with the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, which guaranteed economic and political separation of Kosovo from the FR Yugoslavia, to be placed under a UN administration.
Economic hardship and war resulted in growing discontent with the government of Milošević and his allies, who ran both Serbia and Montenegro as an effective dictatorship. This eventually culminated in the Bulldozer Revolution, in which his government was overthrown and replaced by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia administration of Vojislav Koštunica. The FR Yugoslavia then relinquished the claim that it was the sole successor state to the SFR Yugoslavia, joining the UN as a new member while the SFR Yugoslavia's membership in the organization was finally extinguished after a decade of practical non-existence. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ended in 2003 after the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia voted to enact the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro, which established the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. As such, the name Yugoslavia was consigned to history. A growing independence movement in Montenegro, led by Milo Đukanović, caused the new constitution of Serbia and Montenegro to include a clause allowing for a referendum on the question of Montenegrin independence after three years. In 2006, the referendum was called, passing by a narrow margin. This led to the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and the establishment of the independent republics of Serbia and Montenegro, turning Serbia into a landlocked country.
Name
When the state was established in 1992 following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia), it adopted the official name Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FR Yugoslavia) and claimed to continue the international legal personality and United Nations membership of the SFR Yugoslavia. This claim was not accepted by the United Nations. Security Council Resolution 777 determined that the SFR Yugoslavia had ceased to exist and that the FR Yugoslavia could not automatically continue its United Nations membership, which was regarded as belonging to the now-defunct SFR Yugoslavia. General Assembly Resolution 47/1 consequently required the FR Yugoslavia to apply for membership and barred it from participating in the work of the General Assembly. The FR Yugoslavia applied for membership in 2000 and was admitted to the United Nations as a new member on 1 November under General Assembly Resolution 55/12. In 2003, the country was reconstituted as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, which continued the Federal Republic's international legal personality without controversy.
History
During the collapse of the SFR Yugoslavia in the 1990s the republics of Serbia and Montenegro agreed to remain as part of a state of Yugoslavia, and established a new constitution in 1992, which established the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia essentially as a rump state, with a population consisting of a majority of Serbs. The new state abandoned the Communist legacy: the red star was removed from the national flag, and the communist coat of arms was replaced in 1993 by a new coat of arms representing Serbia and Montenegro. The new state also established the office of the president, held by a single person, initially appointed with the consent of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro until 1997 after which the president was democratically elected. The President of Yugoslavia acted alongside the Presidents of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro. Initially, all three offices were dominated by allies of Slobodan Milosevic and his Socialist Party of Serbia.
Foundation
On 26 December 1991, Serbia, Montenegro, and the Serb rebel-held territories in Croatia agreed that they would form a new "third Yugoslavia". Efforts were also made in 1991 to include the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the federation, with negotiations between Miloševic, Bosnia's Serbian Democratic Party, and the Bosniak proponent of union – Bosnia's Vice-president Adil Zulfikarpašić taking place on this matter. Zulfikarpašić believed that Bosnia could benefit from a union with Serbia, Montenegro, and Krajina, thus he supported a union which would secure the unity of Serbs and Bosniaks. Milošević continued negotiations with Zulfikarpašić to include Bosnia and Herzegovina within a new Yugoslavia, but efforts to include all of Bosnia and Herzegovina within a new Yugoslavia effectively ended by late 1991 as Izetbegović planned to hold a referendum on independence while the Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats formed autonomous territories. Violence between ethnic Serbs and Bosniaks soon broke out. Thus, the FR Yugoslavia was restricted to the republics of Serbia and Montenegro, and became closely associated with breakaway Serb republics during the Yugoslav Wars.
Yugoslav Wars
The FR Yugoslavia was suspended from a number of international institutions. This was due to the ongoing Yugoslav Wars during the 1990s, which had prevented agreement being reached on the disposition of federal assets and liabilities, particularly the national debt. The Government of Yugoslavia supported Croatian and Bosnian Serbs in the wars from 1992 to 1995. Because of that, the country was under economic and political sanctions. War and sanctions resulted in economic disaster, which forced thousands of its young citizens to emigrate from the country.
The FR Yugoslavia acted to support Serb separatist movements in breakaway states, including the Republic of Serbian Krajina and the Republika Srpska, and sought to establish them as independent Serbian republics, with potential eventual reintegration with FR Yugoslavia. The Government of FR Yugoslavia treated these republics as separate entities, and gave unofficial, rather than active, aid by transferring control of units from the now-defunct JNA to the secessionist movements. In this way, FR Yugoslavia avoided potential accusations of committing acts of aggression against the breakaway republics recognised by the international community.
Following the transfer of Yugoslav Army units, Yugoslavia ceased to play an important military role in the Yugoslav Wars, barring conflicts on the border with Croatia, such as the Siege of Dubrovnik. It instead provided economic and political aid, to avoid provoking the international community further, and to preserve the FR Yugoslavia as the republics of Serbia and Montenegro, rather than 'Greater Serbia.'
In 1995, following Operation Storm, a military offensive by the Croatian Army, and NATO involvement in the Bosnian War, President Slobodan Milošević agreed to negotiate, as the Serbian position within Bosnia had become substantially worse. Under threat of economically crippling the Republika Srpska, he took over negotiating powers for all Serbian secessionist movements, as well as the FR Yugoslavia. The ensuing Dayton Agreements, signed between representatives from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, resulted in each state being recognised as sovereign states. It also provided recognition for Serbian institutions and a rotating presidency within Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Serbian populated areas of the former Socialist Republic of Bosnia were absorbed into Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus the Yugoslav Wars ended, and international sanctions on the FR Yugoslavia were lifted. Slobodan Milošević did not achieve his dreams of admitting the FR Yugoslavia to the United Nations as the successor state of the SFR Yugoslavia, as an 'outer wall' of international sanctions prohibited this.
Economic collapse during Yugoslav Wars
Following the adoption of economic sanctions by the international community against the FR Yugoslavia, its economy experienced a collapse. Sanctions on fuel meant that fuel stations across the country ran out of petrol, and foreign assets were seized. The average income of inhabitants of the FR Yugoslavia was halved from $3,000 to $1,500. An estimated 3 million Yugoslavs (Serbs and Montenegrins) lived below the poverty line, suicide rates increased by 22% and hospitals lacked basic equipment. Along with this, supply links were cut, which meant that the Yugoslav economy could not grow, and imports or exports needed for industries could not be obtained, forcing them to close. The crippled state of the Yugoslav economy also affected its ability to wage war, and after 1992, Yugoslavia had an extremely limited military role within the Yugoslav Wars, due to Yugoslav Army (VJ) units being unable to operate without oil or munitions.
On top of this, starting in 1992 and until 1994, the Yugoslav dinar in Serbia and Montenegro experienced a major hyperinflation, leading to inflation reaching 313 million percent, the third worst hyperinflation in history. Many parts of the FR Yugoslavia, including all of Montenegro, adopted the Deutsche Mark and Euro currencies instead of the Yugoslav dinar. International sanctions crippled the Yugoslav economy, and prevented it from playing an active role in aiding Serb breakaway republics. Following the Dayton Agreement, the UN Security Council voted to lift most sanctions, but they were reissued following the outbreak of an Albanian insurgency in Kosovo. The lasting economic impact can be attributed to the eventual downfall of the FR Yugoslavia and Slobodan Milošević's government, as well as a deeper desire in Montenegro to leave Yugoslavia.
Kosovo War
In the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, a growing desire for independence emerged among the Albanian majority population. Already, an unrecognised Republic of Kosova had emerged with underground institutions. In 1996, the Kosovo Liberation Army, an Albanian militia promoting Kosovar independence, launched attacks against Serbian police stations, killing at least ten Serbian policemen in direct attacks between 1996 and 1998. The low level insurgency eventually escalated. After Slobodan Milošević was elected President of Yugoslavia in 1997, having served his maximum two terms as President of Serbia, he ordered Yugoslav Army (VJ) units to move into Kosovo to aid in the suppression of the insurrection. The governments of the FR Yugoslavia and the US declared the Kosovo Liberation Army a terrorist organisation, following repeated deadly attacks against Yugoslav law enforcement agencies. US intelligence also mentioned illegal arms sources of the Kosovo Liberation Army, including conducting raids during the course of the 1997 Albanian civil unrest, and drug dealing. Despite this, substantial evidence now shows that the CIA had aided in training units of the KLA, although not necessarily providing them with arms and funding.
In 1998, the Kosovo War began, following increased open combat with Yugoslav police and army units deployed by Milošević. The KLA found itself heavily outnumbered and outgunned in open combat, and had to use guerrilla tactics. Serbian police and VJ units attacked KLA outposts, attempting to destroy them, as KLA units attempted to avoid direct confrontation and use terrorist attacks, including bombings and ambushes, to weaken Yugoslav control. Although unable to gain a strategic advantage, Yugoslav Army units found themselves in a tactical advantage against KLA units which lacked proper training. VJ units themselves lacked morale, and attacks were often directed against civilian targets rather than military targets. 863,000 Albanian civilians were forcibly expelled between March and June 1999 from Kosovo. 169,824 Serb and Romani civilians were estimated by the UNHCR's Belgrade office to have fled from Kosovo-Metohija to either Serbia proper, the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, or the constituent Republic of Montenegro by 20 June 1999. Out of 10,317 civilians, 8,676 Albanians, 1,196 Serbs and 445 Roma, Bosniaks, Montenegrins and others were killed or went missing in connection with the war between 1 January 1998 - 31 December 2000. The Serbian government attributed 1,953 Serbian, 361 Albanian and 266 other civilian deaths or disappearances from 1 January 1998 - 1 November 2001 to "Albanian terrorism in Kosovo-Metohija".