MFA reactions to controversial statements

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied promptly to the statements made by the Belarusian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, according to which „the United States is pushing Europe into a military confrontation with Russia on the territory of Ukraine and other states, including Romania, are directly involved”. „The Romanian side firmly rejects such inadmissible statements, which feed the rhetoric based on the call to force and the threat of force in international relations”, the Romanian MFA says.

Bucharest recalls „the international role and responsibility of Belarus as an accomplice of Russia in supporting the war of aggression against Ukraine”. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that Romania is a member state of NATO, the strongest alliance in history, and benefits, to the highest degree, from all the security guarantees arising from this status. In power since 1994, Lukashenko is frequently described as the last dictator in Europe. The opposition in Belarus fears that the president could cede part of the national sovereignty to Moscow, in exchange for the protection that Russia provides. Relations have strengthened after Moscow unconditionally supported the Belarusian leader, subject to vehement opposition at home, following his re-election in 2020, most likely rigged. Moreover, bilateral cooperation is considered a way out of the grip of the sanctions imposed by the West on both countries . 

If Lukashenko’s allegations no longer surprise anyone and are of interest to very few, in Romania, the statements made in the public space by the former minister Andrei Marga, regarding the war in Ukraine, are bewildering. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers them „unacceptable” and in flagrant contradiction with Romania’s official position towards Russia’s illegal, unjustified and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, as well as with the fundamental principles of international law.

A controversial character, a promoter of Western values in the high positions he held, but, later, proven to have been an informant of the communist political police, the Securitate, Marga has stated that Ukraine lies within „unnatural borders” and it must cede territories to Russia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. His point of view is shared by wider and not necessarily nationalist circles, which consider that Ukraine inherited, without fault, but also without scruples, eastern Romanian territories, annexed in 1940, following an ultimatum, by the Stalinist Soviet Union. The Romanian public opinion, however, makes a clear distinction between historical traumas and geopolitical frustrations, on the one hand, and the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, on the other. Over 2.3 million Ukrainians, especially women and children, chose to flee through Romania from the path of the invading Russian army. More than 4,300 have applied for and received asylum and benefit from all the rights provided by national legislation. About 70 thousand others have residence permits for temporary protection. (Bogdan Matei, Radio Romania International)