Romania expels Russian consul general after drone hits residential building, injuring two

In response to the incident in which a Russian drone hit a residential building, Romania has declared the Russian consul general in Constanța persona non grata and the consulate general will be closed, Romanian President Nicușor Dan said on May 29.

Dan was speaking after a meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defence called in response to the drone incident in Galați.

“The entire responsibility for the serious incident in which two Romanian citizens were injured lies with Russia, a country that has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for more than four years,” Dan said.

“We had a Russian drone, Geran-2, launched from Russia, part of a swarm of 43 Russian drones, of which only one reached Romanian territory,” he said.

“We know its trajectory and the path it took through Ukraine; we know how it entered Romania,” Dan said.

He thanked Romania’s partners in the European Union and Nato for their solidarity, expressed both individually and within multilateral frameworks.

“This proves that there is Euro-Atlantic solidarity and unity,” he said.

Regarding Romania’s capabilities in the face of this type of incident, within SAFE it has an important component dedicated to anti-aircraft capabilities to respond to this kind of events, Dan said.

The contracts are being signed these days, and delivery will take place in a year or two, he said.

“We have a partnership with Ukraine, signed three months ago, on the joint production of drones, and these two programs—SAFE and the one with Ukraine—have a common component.

“We also have a joint mechanism with the United States and the United Kingdom to accelerate the production and testing of drones and, obviously, anti-drone capabilities.

“And, until these pieces of equipment are delivered, we have both bilateral agreements and ones within Nato with partners for equipment to be present in Romania.”

Dan said that some had already arrived, others are due to arrive, and in the discussion he had with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, “I insisted on urgency, and he absolutely agreed that these pieces of equipment should reach our country as quickly as possible.”

(Photo of Dan: presidency.ro)