"Russia, at the moment, is not a direct threat to Romania, but it is a threat to security in the area," Romanian defence minister Vasile Dîncu stated, answering questions in a Digi24 TV show.

"We are part of a defence system, NATO, so we react in harmony with all the other countries [of the organisation], we held a summit in Bucharest with the countries on the eastern flank [of NATO], with the s-called B9 representatives," he added, according to Bursa.ro.

Asked whether Russia will be more offensive in 2022, Vasile Dîncu said that "Russia is offensive. During this period, it increased a lot both the tone and the aggressiveness of its speech, and it made some ultimatum requests. But I believe that these are rather forms of negotiation. I don't think it's very easy for Russia to start a process that would be followed by an economic blockade because an economic blockade for Russia would not be something it could handle. But we hope reason will prevail."

andrei@romania-insider.com

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