George Visan
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has transformed Romania into an unintended victim of drone warfare. Russian and occasionally Ukrainian drones and aircraft have strayed into Romania’s airspace. On November 17, a drone incident involved a Russian drone hitting a liquified-natural gas (LNG) carrier anchored in the Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail during a nighttime raid, which led Romanian authorities to evacuate two villages close to the river to protect the local population from a potential catastrophic explosion (Mediafax, November 17). Previously, a Russian drone crashed in the Danube Delta, on Romanian territory (MApN.ro, November 11).
Russia is using these repeated violations of Romanian airspace and sovereignty to avoid Ukrainian air defenses and test Bucharest’s willingness to stand up for itself on the Eastern Flank and on the Black Sea. At stake are both Romania’s credibility on the Eastern Flank before its allies and Russia, and public perception of the country’s ability to defend itself. Romanian policymakers have slowly realized that Russian incursions must be stopped, which may involve the use of force.
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