After a Russian drone hit a block of flats in Galati, Moscow reacted predictably: denying the authorship of the flying object, threatening, ridiculing, generating aberrant narratives, activating its local vectors of influence to peddle its “alternative truths” and at the same time to question the official messages publicly communicated by the Romanian authorities.
The Kremlin’s approach, in the case of the Galati episode, was no different from the one we have seen at work for over four years in Ukraine:
- Although it was the Russian army that had crossed the neighboring border, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was the one attacked.
- Although Russian soldiers committed atrocities in Bucha, Moscow not only did not recognize what was obvious, but also cultivated the idea that the Ukrainians themselves were the authors of the massacre… Of course, to put the Russians in a bad light.
- Although the Russian army systematically shells Ukrainian housing districts, and in some areas of Ukraine’s territory the Russian army even organizes human safaris with drones, Russian diplomacy nonchalantly denies everything with the most well-versed psychopaths and serial killers.
Lying was at the foundation of the invasion of Ukraine, lying is the foundation of Russia’s responses when it is accused of the savage way in which it carries the war and the lie is also the philosopher’s stone of Putin’s communication with his own people about the purpose and course of his own war.
For Russia, lying is simply automatism and necessity. Without a lie, the Putin regime would collapse instantly; without lying, Putin’s war would quickly run out of fuel.
And the Russian lie hardly sophisticated.
The Russian lie is blatant, the supreme insensitivity. For the Russian lie invariably comes with the material evidence that exposes it for what it is.
This could also be seen (again) on the occasion of the Galati episode, where the Romanian authorities took longer to draw up the papers than to discover the truth: because the Russian drone had all the relevant signals, and if you try a little hard you can also find out the name of the Russian officer who gave the launch order (it is worth noting that the Ukrainians have identified over time Russian commanders who ordered missile attacks on civilian areas).
That’s why, when it comes to Russians, lying is not the main problem – because you know from the beginning that they will lie and, anyway, lying so blatantly, you easily catch them lying.
Instead, the two main concerns of the Romanian authorities should be:
- That of responding to the Russians firmly – firmly enough to hurt them beyond expectations; This is likely to increase the potential costs in the opportunity calculation of a possible relapse.
- And not to fall into the trap of potentiating the bait topics that the Russians are launching. In the case of Galati, for example, whether or not the drone was deflected by Ukrainian jamming or whether or not it was an “innocent” mistake. Even if, up to a point, such details may be relevant issues for military experts and some political decision-makers, on the whole, the issue must be reduced to its essence: Russia is the only culprit for the crash of the drone on the Galati block, because the Russians launched the drone; then, as long as Russia continues to attack Ukraine, Romania’s territory is naturally in danger of being hit, so Russia must be strongly deterred from attacking Ukraine again.
The fact of reducing the probability that another Russian drone will hit another Romanian locality, possibly even with more serious consequences than in the case of Galati, now depends on the firmness with which Romania responds to Russia following the Galati episode and at the same time on the attention that Bucharest pays to the essence of the problem, and not to the bait topics.
Last but not least, this analysis grid is also valid for the public opinion in Romania: the Mioritic “patriots” and “sovereignists” who are now striving to emphasize anything other than Russia’s absolute guilt die from the care of the Russian killer, and not from the care of his victim (be it from Galati or Odessa, from Vaslui or Reni).
56 countries at UN condemn ‘unacceptable’ Russian drone strike on Romania
