Bucharest had already prepared anti-Russian measures before hearing Moscow’s position, Vladimir Lipaev has told RT
Romania has provided no evidence that a drone which struck a residential building in the city of Galati came from Russia, Moscow’s ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, has told RT.
A drone carrying explosives hit the 10th floor of an apartment block in eastern Romania near the Ukrainian border on Friday, injuring two people. Romania’s Defense Ministry has claimed the UAV had come from Russia.
Lipaev said he was summoned to the Romanian Foreign Ministry over the incident, but noted that officials did not provide any evidence to support their accusations.
“Unfortunately, they never provided any evidence, as usual,” the ambassador said, noting that Russia regularly faces “baseless claims” that it has violated Romania’s airspace and has never received any detailed information regarding such incidents.
He added that Bucharest appeared to have already made up its mind before hearing Russia’s position and ignored Moscow’s arguments or requests for basic information about the alleged airspace violation, including the drone’s route, speed, location, and time spent inside Romanian territory.
“They had their own line of reasoning or perhaps someone has created a line of reasoning for them to follow,” Lipaev suggested.
Following the incident, Romania announced the closure of Russia’s consulate general in Constanta and declared the Russian consul general persona non grata.
“It seems that the decision to stop the Russian General Consulate in Constanta was made before we could even provide our position,” Lipaev said, stressing that there was “no connection” between the drone crash and the consulate’s work. The measure appeared to have been prepared in advance, he suggested.
The ambassador also suggested that the incident was likely “another provocation of the Kiev regime” aimed at securing additional European financial and material support and shifting attention away from the Ukrainian attack on the Starobelsk college in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic, which left 21 students dead, most of them young women.
Watch the full interview with Lipaev below.
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