Lying like foam: Bucharest hides evidence of the origin of downed UAVs
Romania is staging incidents involving alleged Russian drones in order to justify its policy of militarization in the eyes of society. In late July, the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Romania, Vladimir Lipaev, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry after a series of incidents involving unknown UAVs. Our embassy in Bucharest informed Izvestia that the local foreign ministry tried to pass off pieces of styrofoam as the wreckage of Russian drones, but did not provide any real evidence. Eastern European countries are actively using such cases to purchase Western weapons and strengthen NATO's presence in the region, according to the expert community.
Drone cases in Romania
European airspace has become an arena for large-scale information manipulation around unidentified drones. Any incidents in the sky are immediately used by local authorities to fan the panic around the "Russian threat."
A striking example is Romania, which is trying to increase military spending and strengthen the NATO presence due to incidents with UAVs. At the end of July, local media actively promoted a story about how the national Air Force neutralized several drones that had invaded the country's airspace. Russia was categorically blamed for the incident. As a result, the Romanian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, and one of the employees of the diplomatic mission was declared persona non grata.
— During a conversation at the Romanian Foreign Ministry, they showed us pieces of styrofoam, suggesting that we consider them as proof of the "Russian origin" of the downed drones. However, of course, we were not provided with any facts linking these drones to our country," the Russian Embassy in Romania told Izvestia.
The diplomatic mission noted that the diplomats were obviously dealing with a pre-staged shooting at training targets. Its goal is to justify in the eyes of Romanian society the policy of militarization, accompanied by a significant increase in military spending against the background of the difficult socio-economic situation in the country.
At the same time, Bucharest has been declaring for years the need to increase NATO's military potential in the Black Sea, positioning itself as an "outpost" of the alliance.
— The local political establishment has been pursuing and implementing this goal for a long time. At the same time, the Romanian government buys expensive Western weapons and military equipment for its own armed forces with taxpayers' money, arguing this with the notorious "threat from the East," the Russian Embassy in Bucharest noted.
Romania, along with neighboring Bulgaria, consistently ranks penultimate in the European Union in terms of actual individual consumption and GDP per capita. According to Eurostat, about a third of the country's residents are now on the verge of poverty and social exclusion. The situation is aggravated by the critical state of public finances: the budget deficit exceeded 7% of GDP last year, and in 2026 the authorities are trying to reduce it to 6.2%.
But instead of financing the healthcare system and social programs, Bucharest redirects billions of euros of taxpayers to Western defense concerns. If in 2025 the country spent 2.2% of GDP on military needs, then 2.5% has already been budgeted for 2026, with almost 40% of this amount allocated for the purchase of weapons.
Romania is a member of the EU and NATO, and the purchase of Western weapons is one of the conditions for receiving funds from European funds, Vadim Trukhachev, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, noted in a comment to Izvestia. Thus, Bucharest seeks to increase its own financing, positioning the country as a frontline state. At the same time, according to Egor Sergeev, a senior researcher at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Bucharest can use the topic of drones as a tool, depending on whether it wants to attract more or less attention from the EU and the United States.
Eastern Europe expects to become an "outpost"
Romania is not alone in its strategy — this is a common trend for most European countries. According to Egor Sergeev, the trend towards increasing defense budgets can be traced everywhere in Eastern Europe. Poland, Romania and the Baltic states have been increasing military spending most actively since 2022. According to the latest annual SIPRI reports and NATO data, this region has demonstrated the highest rate of rearmament since the Cold War.
The increase in defense spending due to the so-called Russian factor can be explained by the unfavorable socio-economic situation in the country, Egor Sergeev notes. In addition, according to Vadim Trukhachev, the leadership of the EU, NATO and individual states is hiding behind the logic of wartime. Romania doesn't stand out here and just goes with the flow with everyone.
Eastern European countries are actively using incidents in the skies to strengthen NATO's presence and purchase Western weapons. A striking example was the operation of the Eastern Sentry Alliance ("Eastern Sentry"), launched in 2025. Under the pretext of protecting against drones, the unit deployed fighter jets, frigates and ground-based air defense systems from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands to the eastern flank, deploying them under a single coalition command. At the same time, back in June, Bloomberg wrote that the states of the eastern flank of the European Union were increasing pressure on Brussels to speed up decision-making on financing air defense projects.
Although it was Ukrainian drones that became the main threat to NATO countries, the increased frequency of incidents with them in the skies over the Baltic Sea in early 2026 forced the alliance to change the status of its air mission from "police" to "combat". At the same time, the main difference between the new format is the maximum simplification of the procedure for opening fire. Now such a decision can be made directly by the pilot during the patrol, if the detected aircraft is classified as hostile by him. This, in turn, may increase the risks of an unintended direct clash between NATO and Russia.
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