Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic said March 18 that the U.S.-led NATO attacks on Yugoslavia last year was actually an aggression against Europe.

Jovanovic made the remarks in an interview with the Belgrade-based Evening News. On March 24 last year, U.S.-led NATO forces started bombing Yugoslavia and the air strikes lasted 79 days.

The United Stated launched the war of aggression against Yugoslavia in order to destroy peace and stability in Europe, European material civilization and its strategic interests, Jovanovic charged.

The U.S. intention of aggression was clearly demonstrated when NATO bombed and destroyed some bridges over the Danube. The bridges not only belong to Serbia and Yugoslavia, but also to the whole of Europe, he said.

The barbaric aggression itself was only a test. If it worked, it would be tried on in other parts of the world, the Yugoslav foreign minister said.

Fortunately NATO did not succeed in its attempt and the heroic resistance of the Yugoslav people has encouraged all other peace-loving people to unite and fight U.S. hegemony and "neo-imperialistic" policy, he added.

Referring to the restoration of diplomatic relations with the United States, Britain, France and Germany, Jovanovic said that only when these nations call off sanctions against Yugoslavia, stop interfering in its internal affairs and compensate for the war damages, could any relations be re-established with them.