RUSSIA PERSPECTIVE

Moscow, May 30, 2026. While Bucharest attributes the Geran-2 drone crash that struck a ten-story residential building in Galati during the night of May 28-29, injuring two people and forcing evacuation of roughly sixty residents, to Russia, the Kremlin offers categorical denial coupled with a demand: return the debris for expert examination.

Vladimir Putin, when questioned at a press conference during his visit to Kazakhstan, drew a clear line: "No one can determine the origin of an aircraft before a forensic examination of that aircraft has been conducted. If objective data is provided to us, we will assess what happened." The Russian president also advanced an alternative hypothesis, pointing to Ukrainian precedents: drones launched by Kyiv toward Russian territory have already deviated from their trajectory and struck NATO member states—Finland, Baltic states. "The initial reaction was exactly the same as in Romania today—total panic, 'the Russians are coming,'" he said sardonically.

The Russian Embassy in Bucharest went further in its interpretation. In a statement relayed by TASS, the diplomatic mission asserted that "Romania exploited the Galati incident to implement a pre-decided measure," aligning with "Romania's foreign policy line of confrontation with Russia dictated by the EU and NATO." Ambassador Vladimir Lipayev, cited by RT, further drew a link to the May 22 attack on a school in Starobelsk that killed 21 students, presenting the Romanian incident as a diversion orchestrated by Kyiv to shift attention.

Bucharest's decision to expel the Russian consul in Constanta and declare the diplomat stationed in this Black Sea port persona non grata was branded disproportionate by Russia's Foreign Ministry, which promised a response. On the media front, RT gave airtime to European Parliament deputy Diana Sosoaca, a figure in the SOS Romania opposition, claiming "the EU and NATO seek to push Romania into attacking Russia," while voices critical of escalation are accused of espionage on behalf of Moscow.

Faced with NATO's assessment—whose SHAPE spokesman affirmed to Reuters that the drone was "of Russian origin"—Moscow maintains that this conclusion is premature without expert analysis of the debris. Russia recalled having itself provided Washington fragments of drones that targeted the presidential residence, presenting this step as a model of cooperation that Bucharest should follow.