Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis should have answered to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to Romania, last week, “as president to president”, former President Traian Basescu said in a TV show. He also mentioned that Putin lied when saying that Romania has become a target for Russia for hosting the US missile defense system at Deveselu as Romania had already been a target for Russia since joining NATO.

Vladimir Putin launched his starkest threat on Romania, on Friday, during a press conference he held in Athens together with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“If yesterday in those areas of Romania people simply did not know what it means to be in the cross-hairs, then today we will be forced to carry out certain measures to ensure our security,” Putin said, according to Reuters. He also added that Poland would also become a target for Russia for hosting a similar system as the one already installed in Romania.

He didn’t mention what actions Russia would take and added that his country won’t take any steps until seeing rockets installed in neighboring countries.

His statement came after those made by other Russian lower level officials who warned that hosting elements of the US ballistic missile defense system turned Romania into a direct threat to Russia. US, NATO, and Romanian officials inaugurated the missile defense system at the Deveselu military base in southern Romania on May 12. They emphasized that the system was strictly defensive and didn’t target Russia.

Romania’s former President Traian Basescu, who started the negotiations with the US for installing the missile defense system in Romania, in 2010, thinks that Romania’s current President should have reacted promptly to Putin’s statements.

“An immediate reaction would have been needed because, this time, it wasn’t a bellboy who spoke but President Vladimir Putin. A reaction as president to president was necessary,” Basescu said on Sunday, according to Agerpres.

De added that because an official reaction didn’t come, “Vladimir Putin’s message went straight to our population”.

Basescu also said that he was disappointed by Putin’s “big lie”. He explained that Romania had become a target for Russia’s military system since joining NATO and that, by hosting the missile defense system elements, Romania was only defending itself from the threats that had become real when joining the Alliance. He said that President Iohannis’ reaction should have been a sharp one and that it should have pointed out Putin’s lie.

“It’s inadmissible that when a head of state threatens a state such as Romania the head of the Romanian state does not react,” Basescu concluded.

editor@romania-insider.com