President Nicușor Dan on May 30 said in an interview with the BBC that Romania is considering expelling the Russian ambassador to Bucharest if incidents like the Russian drone that hit a block of flats in Galați continue. The warning came after Romania already closed the Russian consulate in Constanta and expelled as persona non grata Russia’s consul Andrei Kosilin.

President Dan issued the warning as part of a broader statement that prompted mixed reactions.

“When the Russians strike, they target cities that are on the other side of the Danube; they have to make sure that they do not hurt Romanian citizens. So it is a warning to the Russian side, and I hope they will stop. If not, we have other measures that we can take against them," said Nicușor Dan. 

The statement was noted by media, such as EUToday, not because it represented a change in Romania’s formal position on the war, but because of the way it framed the immediate security problem. Rather than calling in that sentence for Russia to halt attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas, Dan focused on the risk that such attacks pose to Romanians living close to the border. The distinction is politically sensitive.

On the Russian side, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that Russia will react quickly to the closure of the Consulate General in Romania at Constanta and the declaration of the Consul General as persona non grata.

"Retaliatory measures in connection with the declaration of the Russian Consul General as persona non grata and the closure of the Consulate General will not be delayed," she said.

The Russian consulate in Constanta “was a Russian spy point in a very, very sensitive area,” historian Armand Goșu commented in an interview for Contributors cited by Hotnews.ro, in which he declares himself surprised that it was still open.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)