The Russian ambassador to Romania has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry of Romania following his attack on Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, last week. The Minister of Foreign Affairs in Romania, Mr Bogdan Aurescu, urgently summoned the Russian ambassador following the strong negative reaction across the country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement where they said that they wanted to clear the air with the Russians following “unacceptable character of the positions of the Russian diplomatic mission to Romania”.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Aurescu stated to the media following the meeting that a general discussion took place and that: “In this context, the Romanian side emphasised the unacceptable descriptions from the Russian diplomatic mission and stated the importance of avoiding such rhetoric and the need to maintain public discourse within the limits of diplomatic language in order to avoid a negative impact on bilateral relations.”
Late Tuesday evening, Alin Valentin Borcea, leader of the Romanian royalist movement, stated that he and the National Alliance for the Restoration of the Monarchy had been invited by The Russian Embassy in Bucharest to discuss the crisis. Borcea stated that they may not want to accept this invitation after responding very strongly to the many insults towards Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown.
Monday the Romanian royalist movement required that Romania declare the Russian ambassador to the country “persona non grata” and force him to return to Russia. 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. 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.”
Historian and former leader of Romania’s royalist movement Tudor Vişan-Miu said: “I am outraged. This won’t be a storm in a cup of water; it will be a hurricane that will reveal the true extent of Russian influence and propaganda in Romania”. It is now almost clear that the Romanian government does not want to follow the people’s demand to expel the Russian ambassador from the country. Therefore, they have created a petition campaign to show the government that there is broad, popular support in the hope of removing him from 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.
