Romania summoned Russia’s ambassador to Bucharest over the weekend after it became the second NATO country in the last week to report a Russian drone incursion on its territory.
Tensions have intensified along NATO’s eastern flank after Poland reported that alliance and Polish jets were scrambled to intercept Russia drones that breached its airspace last week during Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Toiu told Digi 24 that Russia’s ambassador to Bucharest had been summoned in “protest against this unacceptable and irresponsible act, which represents a violation of Romania’s sovereignty.”
A top EU official on Sunday called the latest violation a “reckless escalation,” said Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief/X.
On Friday, NATO strengthened its air defense and launched operation “Eastern Sentry” to strengthen military activity along Europe’s eastern flank, with input from France, Germany, the U.K. and Denmark.
Two F-16 jets in eastern Romania were “scrambled on an Air Policing mission to monitor the air situation near the border with Ukraine, following Russian strikes on Ukrainian Danube infrastructure” at 6:05pm Saturday local time, the Romanian defense ministry said in a statement.
The F-16 “detected and tracked” the drone in Romania’s airspace and radar contact was lost some 12 miles from the small community of Chilia Veche, the ministry said adding the drone did not fly over populated areas and “did not pose an imminent threat to the civilian population.”
The Russian embassy in Bucharest on Monday called the incident “a deliberate provocation from Kyiv,” the Ukrainian capital. It claimed the drone was a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object.)
Former President Traian Basescu criticized the decision not to shoot down the drone. „If you are capable, you defend your airspace, if you are not capable, a drone flies around for 50 minutes in your airspace,” says the former president.
“Can you imagine that if we had shot down the Russian drone yesterday, would the Russian ambassador have been been ironic?
“I think we have major problems in establishing procedures for intervention,” he added.
Asked about the decision not to shoot down the Russian drone, Traian Basescu said there wasn’t “much to comment on”.
“We have to be very clear – air security, the inviolability of the territory, the inviolability of the airspace are things that are not negotiated.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the “Russia’s incursion into Romanian airspace is once again a blatant violation of EU sovereignty” and officials are “working closely with Romania and all Member States to protect the EU territory.”
