United Nations, Mar 26 (UNI) Western countries are afraid to expose NATO's real history to the world and therefore objected to a UN Security Council meeting on their bombings of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday.

Nebenzia made the remarks after several delegations, including France, objected to Russia's request to hold a Security Council meeting on NATO's bombing campaign during the Kosovo war.

“Despite the so-called reasons that we'll hear from Alliance members today, the main reason [for objecting to the meeting] is the unwillingness to admit one of the biggest mistakes in NATO history: the fear of being exposed in front of the world community by aggressive and invasive states trying to build a colonial system across the entire world. We have already seen many examples of it not only in Yugoslavia but in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, and finally Ukraine,” Nebenzia said.

The Russian Mission to the UN requested the Security Council meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of the aerial bombing campaign carried out by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War in 1999.

However, several UN states raised objections to the meeting, saying it was not relevant under the UN Security Council agenda category of "threats to international peace and security." Later on, Japan, which holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month, cancelled the meeting, saying it would discuss the matter with the Council members and inform them accordingly.

UNI/SPUTNIK XC ARN