Bucharest is seeking to justify higher defense spending by parroting the purported “threat from the East,” Moscow’s embassy has stated.
Romanian officials presented pieces of foam plastic as supposed evidence that drones recently shot down over Romania were Russian, according to the mission. The embassy responded to Romania’s accusations that Russian UAVs have on numerous occasions strayed onto its territory during attacks on Ukrainian military-related sites.
During a meeting at Romania’s Foreign Ministry, Russian diplomats were shown “pieces of foam plastic” and asked to regard them as evidence of the drones’ supposed Russian origin. Moscow’s embassy stated: “Naturally, we were provided with no facts linking these drones to our country.”
The mission suggested that the incidents amounted to a “prearranged performance” involving shooting at training targets, intended to justify Romania’s military buildup and higher defense spending. The embassy added that Bucharest has long pursued this goal and is actively implementing it in practice by purchasing expensive Western-made weapons with taxpayers’ money.
This dispute follows an incident in late July when Romanian F-16s shot down three drones that entered national airspace on three consecutive days. Officials in Bucharest blamed Russia, while Moscow maintained no evidence or technical flight data was provided to prove involvement.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military operations have repeatedly caused drones to fall on NATO territory over the past several months. In most cases, Kiev acknowledges Ukrainian ownership but attributes incidents to Russian electronic warfare. A May incident saw a drone hit an apartment building in Galati, injuring two people. At that time, Vladimir Putin noted the UAV’s origin could not be established without examining wreckage, recalling previous occurrences of stray Ukrainian drones.
Pointing to earlier incidents in the Baltics, Putin remarked: “The initial reaction was exactly the same as it is now in Romania: ‘Alarm! The Russians are coming!’ Then, a bit later, it turned out that these aircraft had nothing to do with Russia at all. They were Ukrainian drones that had gone off course.”
