site.btaRussian Embassy in Bucharest Blames Ukraine for Drone Incursion into Romanian Airspace

The Russian Embassy in Bucharest said in a Facebook post on Monday that claims of a Russian drone entering Romanian airspace were false, describing the incident as a provocation by Ukraine. 

On September 13, a drone entered Romanian airspace in northern Dobrudzha, prompting a response from the Romanian Air Force. Two F-16 fighter jets intercepted and tracked the drone, which later disappeared from radar approximately 20 km southwest of the village of Chilia Veche. The pilots were authorized to engage the target but decided not to open fire, citing the associated risks, according to a report from Romania’s Ministry of National Defence. The Ministry identified the drone as a Russian “Geran” and described the act as “an irresponsible action by the Russian Federation.”

The Russian Embassy said that all circumstances indicate that this was a deliberate provocation by the Kyiv regime, “which, fearing inevitable military defeat and accountability for crimes committed against both the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, is desperately trying in every way to involve other European countries in a dangerous military adventure against the Russian Federation”.

The Embassy’s comment came a day after Russian Ambassador to Romania Vladimir Lipayev was summoned to the Romanian Foreign Ministry.

Former Romanian president Traian Basescu (in office from 2004 to 2014) criticized the Ministry for not shooting down the drones, calling the response “helpless.” “Putin sends us a drone that hovers for 49 minutes over Romanian airspace, we scramble F-16s, and by the end of the mission two German Eurofighters come to relieve us, for an unmanned aircraft that should have been shot down in the first minutes after entering Romanian airspace because it was identified as a drone,” Basescu told Digi24.

According to the Romanian Defence Ministry, fragments of drones have fallen on Romanian territory in more than 50% of Russian attacks near Romania’s borders since February 2022. A total of 52 Russian drone attacks near the country’s borders have been recorded since that time.