European Parliament member Diana Sosoaca said Bucharest would use the recent drone incident to justify increased defense spending
The leaders of the EU and NATO are using the recent drone incident in Romania to push the country closer to war with Russia, Diana Sosoaca, a Romanian member of the European Parliament and former senator, has told RT.
Romania blamed Russia after a drone crashed into an apartment block in the city of Galati near the Ukrainian border on Friday, injuring two people. President Vladimir Putin called on Romania to share data about the incident for an “objective investigation,” while Russia’s ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, told RT that there was no proof the drone had come from Russia.
“We ask for an international investigation,” Sosoaca, the leader of the opposition SOS Romania party, said. “There are only assumptions” fueled by anti-Russian fearmongering, she added.
The politician insisted that the EU and NATO were seeking to “push Romania to attack Russia,” while critics of escalation were being labeled “spies” for Moscow.
Sosoaca said the Romanian government would use the incident as a pretext for increased defense spending. She pointed to Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, who vowed on Friday to “accelerate” efforts to acquire anti-drone equipment through the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program. Such measures are unpopular with ordinary Romanians, who “don’t want to be at war with Russia,” Sosoaca said.
Putin said during a trip to Kazakhstan on Friday that Russia had no intention of attacking NATO but would “raze to the ground” any country that attacked it. The president also criticized Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys, who recently suggested that the US-led bloc should be prepared to “break into” Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, an exclave on the Baltic Sea.
Several suspected Ukrainian drones have crashed in the Baltic states in recent months, prompting Moscow to warn NATO members against allowing Ukraine to use their territory to launch strikes on Russia.
