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Romania

Call for Russian Ambassador’s resignation following attack on Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania

Royal Central reported yesterday that Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, was attacked by the Russian government. The Russian embassy in Romania issued a negative statement on the Romanian royals following Margareta’s warning on Russian aggression in Europe.

This news has now made big headlines in international media and has become a political crisis in Romania. This event has now split the pro-European and pro-Russian political branches in the Romanian political system. Monarchists and supporters of the pro-European branch of Romanian politics have flooded to the Russian Embassy’s Facebook page with patriotic and anti-Russian comments.

Strong voices within several political groups and the very strong royalist movement now require that Romania declare the Russian Ambassador to the country “persona non grata” and force him to return to Russia.

Prince Radu and Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown during the reception. Photo: The Royal Court of Romania.

The royalists’ demands include: “We can say, without being mistaken, that when Russia or its agents attack, criticise and insult the members of the Romanian Royal Family, that our country is on the right path of history. We remain confident that Romania will return to the traditional form of government, the constitutional monarchy. Finally, we wish that the unpleasant situation created by the last statements of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest should not be repeated. In this regard, we ask the President of Romania, to declare the Russian Ambassador to Bucharest, Valery Kuzmin, ‘persona non-grata’ and send him back to Russia.”

Iulian Chifu, a former presidential advisor and director of the Rumanian Centre for Conflict Prevention, said to media: “The statement of the Romanian Crown was well rooted in reality; the Russian ambassador must be recalled.”

In addition, several Romanian members of parliament have reacted negatively on the Russian attack on the Custodian of the Romanian Crown. Daniel Gheorghe, Member of the National Liberal Party, thinks an apology must come from the Russian on this issue. He says: “I think the ambassador of the Russian Federation has an obligation to publicly apologise for this use of Soviet language and the aggressive styling once propagated by communist Russia.”

Her Majesty and the diplomatic corps. Photo: The Royal Court of Romania.

Party leader George Simion, an advocate for the Unification of Romania and Moldova issued a public statement on the issue. He said: “Russia does what it always did. It is aggressive, tries to silence those that reveal the truth. I am curious where the people promoting Russia as an alternative are hiding now. The only real truth is Greater Romania.”

It was on Thursday of last week that Her Majesty held a reception for the Diplomatic Corps of Romania. During her speech, the Custodian of the Romanian Crown expressed her feeling over the current political situation in Europe and the world. Margareta is a great advocate for a strong European colouration and bringing Romania closer to the western world. In her speech, she said: “However, I just wonder if we are doing enough, given the troubles facing us in Ukraine and around the Black Sea. Let me remind you: all of Russia’s assaults on our security, from the attack on Georgia in 2008 to the attack on Ukraine in 2014 and the Russian military intervention in the Middle East in 2015, happened around our part of the world, around what used to be called NATO’s Southern Flank. This has caused a lot of turmoil in Romania these recent days.”

NATO members Romania and Russia have, in recent years, had some tense relations. In 1992 and 1993, relations between the two were especially strained when they backed opposite sides in the Transnistria conflict. Romania is part of NATO, which Russia views in a highly negative light.

About author

Senior Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen has a master in military and political history of the Nordic countries. He has written six books on historical subjects and more than 1.500 articles for Royal Central. He has also interview both Serbian and Norwegian royals. Aanmoen is based in Oslo, Norway.