Romania closes Russian consulate amid drone incident

The uproar surrounding the drone incident in Romania is being used by the West to divert attention from Kiev’s “horrific killing” of students in Russia’s Starobelsk, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has told RT.

The Ukrainian drone attack, carried out in three waves, on Starobelsk Professional College in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic on May 22 killed 21 students, most of them young women studying to become teachers. Another 65 people were injured in what local officials described as a double-tap strike that also targeted first responders.

Commenting on reports of a drone striking an apartment block in Romania on Friday, Zakharova said allegations of Russian involvement were unsupported by evidence and were being used to shift attention away from the Starobelsk tragedy.

“It’s obvious why this story is being blown out of proportion. The West needs to make sure that nobody pays attention to Zelensky’s crime – the bloody, horrific terrorist attack” on Starobelsk, Zakharova said, adding that it had been carried out “with money provided by EU countries and with their direct support.”

Following the drone incident on Friday, the EU country announced the closure of Russia’s consulate general in the Romanian city of Constanta and declared the Russian consul general persona non grata. Zakharova described the move as part of an “anti-Russian, Russophobic information campaign,” and added that Russia’s response “will not be long in coming.”

Russian Ambassador to Romania Vladimir Lipaev told RT there was “no connection” between the drone incident and Bucharest’s decision to close the consulate. The envoy argued the move had been prepared in advance and that the Romanian authorities “just used this opportunity” to shut the mission down. Lipaev also suggested the drone incident could have been a provocation by Kiev aimed at drawing NATO deeper into the Ukraine conflict.

Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said the EU states are direct participants in the Ukraine conflict through their military and financial aid to Kiev.

“European drones, drone parts, other weapons — not to mention intelligence data — are used in attacks on our country every single day. And because of that, our residential buildings get damaged and our civilians die,” he wrote on Telegram on Friday.

Russia has previously been blamed for drone and missile incidents in EU nations. One of the most high-profile incidents involved an S-300 air defense missile killing two people in Poland not far from the Ukrainian border in 2022.