Dmitri Medvedev, after the drone incident in Galati: “They will continue to happen. The citizens of the EU states will not be able to sleep peacefully”
Dmitry Medvedev, the vice-chairman of Russia's Security Council and a former Russian president, warned European leaders on Friday that drones will continue to accidentally land on the territory of their countries and that their populations will no longer be able to sleep peacefully, Reuters notes.
Medvedev's statement comes after NATO accused Moscow of irresponsible behavior and promised to “defend every centimeter of allied territory” after Romania announced that a Russian drone had crashed into a block of flats in Galati during an attack on Ukraine.
Medvedev said it must first be established who the drone belonged to, but argued that European leaders, whom he called “powerless”, should not express outrage over the incident because they are directly participating in the war against Russia.
“Be prepared: such incidents will continue to happen,” Medvedev said in a statement. “It is war. And the citizens of the EU states, like the population of the countries in conflict, will not be able to sleep peacefully.”
He added that such incidents are all the more likely in countries where drones are produced for Ukraine.
“European drones, components for these and other weapons, not to mention information provided by intelligence services, are used daily in attacks against our country. As a result of these actions, residential buildings are damaged and our civilians lose their lives,” Medvedev said.
Little: “I don't know what kind of drone exploded in Romania“
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday questioned whether the drone that crashed into a block of flats in Galati came from Russia and suggested it could have been a Ukrainian drone.
“I don't know what kind of drone exploded in Romania. Let them send us the remains,” Putin said, quoted by the Kyiv Post.
Romania accuses Russia of the incident. The incident in Galați in which two people were injured occurred after a Russian Geran-2 drone deviated from its route and entered Romanian territory and hit a residential block in the municipality of Galați, stated President Nicușor Dan in a press statement at the end of the CSAT meeting.
He emphasized that “the entire responsibility belongs to Russia.” “We had a Russian Geran 2 drone that left Russia, part of a swarm of which only one reached Romania,” added the president.
“The Consul General of the Russian Federation in Constanța has been declared persona non grata and the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Constanța will close”, announced Nicușor Dan.
