Romania conveys that, in case of the drones brought down in the national airspace, the responsibility lies with Russia and our country doesn't 'accept' such actions, interim Foreign Affairs Minister Oana Toiu told a news conference on Tuesday.

'The message which we should sent to Russia is the one that we conveyed yesterday: the drone belongs to them, the responsibility lies with them, Romania does not accept this,' the minister showed.

Toiu said Romania had taken a 'clear, firm' position, assigning responsibility, including by summoning the Russian ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), where he was shown fragments of the drone [one of the three recently brought down in Romania's national airspace], as well as the result of the investigation confirming that the drone was Russian.

'For this reason, our diplomatic approach is fully justified. As for what we expect going forward from a diplomatic perspective, as I also said when we decided to close the Russian Federation's Consulate General in Constanta, we expect reciprocal diplomatic measures. I would also remind you of NATO's public statements, which reaffirmed its support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the fact that Romania is a state that does not negotiate its borders and does not allow illegal incursions into its airspace. This is both Romania's position and NATO's common position,' the interim minister said.

She brought to mind that, over the past year and in recent months, Romania requested and continues to request the strengthening of the deterrence and defence capabilities, both in terms of air defence systems and maritime security, as well as cooperation at both civilian and military levels.

'At the NATO Summit in Ankara, Romania's Defence minister, together with the Defence ministers of Türkiye and Bulgaria, signed an agreement to boost NATO's military cooperation framework in the Black Sea, which has so far focused on mine clearance and will continue to do so, alongside protecting critical infrastructure. For Romania, this is very important from the perspective of energy infrastructure, but it is also a defence objective and a Black Sea security objective linked to future plans,' Toiu said.

The interim minister also highlighted allied solidarity in the context of the drone attacks, citing Italy as an example.

'Following the drone incident in Galati, Italy deployed four Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to Romania along with a contingent of 180 military personnel and support staff. In this case, we are talking about a drone that was brought down by a Romanian pilot flying an F-16. We know that, during the operation to track the drone and defend the airspace, Eurofighter aircraft were also scrambled,' Toiu explained. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Rodica State)