From Memory Politics to Mnemonic Diplomacy: Serbia’s Strategic Use of the 1999 NATO Bombing to Challenge Kosovo’s Statehood before and after Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract This article analyses Serbia’s memory politics surrounding the 1999 NATO intervention, focusing on how narratives of victimhood have been reactivated and strategically deployed prior to and since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to undermine Kosovo’s statehood. The author examines how the memory of the intervention has become a foreign policy tool. Drawing on the concept of mnemonic diplomacy, he shows how Serbia has leveraged historical grievance to position itself, as a hedging strategy, between East and West. Sites such as Batajnica and events such as the 2023 paramilitary attack in Banjska have been framed through commemorative practices that intensify anti-Kosovo and anti-Western narratives, while fostering symbolic partnerships with Russia, China, and – paradoxically – Western actors. By situating memory within Serbia’s domestic authoritarian consolidation and shifts in international alignment, the author reframes victimhood discourses based on the 1999 intervention as a dynamic instrument of contemporary geopolitical contestation, with Kosovo at its centre.