Traian Băsescu, after the drone crash in Vaslui: “We are starting to be ridiculous. A country that respects itself does not turn its airspace into a boulevard for Russian drones”

The former president Traian Băsescu criticized on Tuesday, on Digi24, the reaction of the Romanian authorities after a drone flew over the territory of Romania for several hours and crashed in the town of Puiesti, Vaslui county, about 50 kilometers from the border. Băsescu stated that the state is “beginning to be ridiculous”. “Either we don't have equipment, or we didn't have the skill to use the equipment we have”, commented Traian Băsescu.

Asked what should be done in such situations, given that he has repeatedly asked for a firmer reaction, the former president stated that drones that enter Romania's airspace without authorization must be shot down.

“We proved that we are full of Eurofighters and F-16s for nothing if no one shoots down any drones”

“It would mean shooting them down. The story of 'we didn't want to risk shooting them down' is a story for sleeping children. A self-respecting country does not allow its airspace to be turned into a boulevard for the promenade of Russian drones,” said the former head of state.

When asked why no action was taken, Traian Băsescu mentioned “two reasons”: “Either we don't have the equipment to shoot down the drones, although I don't think so, knowing also the equipment with Gepard combat vehicles that are special for anti-aircraft combat, or we didn't have the skill to use the equipment we have in such a way as to shoot down the drones”

“In today's incident we have another problem,” continued the former head of state. “We could not monitor the airspace. I mean, we said that the drone returned to Ukraine or Russia, after flying over about 3 counties, but it was shot down by a poplar tree, in Vaslui county,” Băsescu continued.

“It is clear that Putin is playing a game of attrition. At the same time, however, he is testing our ability to react. And until one more time we have proven that we are full of Eurofighters for nothing, we are full of F-16s for nothing, we raise them in vain and say loudly 'we raised fighter planes'. Yes, we raised but no one shot down a single drone. So we are starting to be ridiculous”, the former president added.

Several combat aircraft were lifted from the ground on Tuesday morning, from Base 57 Mihail Kogălniceanu and from Air Base 86 Fetești, after the radars of the Ministry of National Defense detected targets that violated the national airspace, MApN announced. Residents of Galati, Tulcea and Vrancea received RO-Alert warning messages.

Later, the Minister of Defense announced that a drone without an explosive charge was found crashed in Vaslui County.

The drone fell in the yard of a local from Puiești. He was the one who alerted the authorities, after hearing a bang, Eduard Popica, the prefect of Vaslui county, said live on Digi24.