Strongly supporting Ukraine, we pragmatically defend our own security, said, on Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu, at the opening of the Annual Meeting of Romanian Diplomacy, according to Agerpres.

„Russia’s attack against Ukraine is a frontal attack on our Euro-Atlantic security, but it is not only that. It is an attack against our prosperity and our democratic values. Tell all those who still do not understand this and who mistakenly believe that the sanctions of the European Union are the ones that have led to the current difficult economic situation in Europe. By strongly supporting Ukraine, in the war illegally and illegitimately started by Russia, we are actually pragmatically defending our own security, prosperity and democratic value system. By strongly and devotedly supporting the Republic of Moldova, we not only support the community of language, culture and history that unites us,” said the head of the Romanian diplomacy.

Aurescu said that 2022 is „the year when our country has known, at its borders, Russia’s brutal, unprovoked and illegal war against Ukraine, but at the same time continues to contribute concretely and effectively to the management of the multiple crises resulting from this”.

Bogdan Aurescu said that „the war in our neighborhood has demonstrated that there is no more appropriate response to such challenges than the strongest possible solidarity and unity, in the European Union, in NATO, in the transatlantic relationship, which has become more durable than ever”.

„These have been our secret weapons that took Russia by surprise, and these were, in fact, the effects of Russia’s deeply harmful action, exactly contrary to its intended purpose, to divide and weaken us. We must, therefore, continue to be united and strong,” the Foreign Minister pointed out.

„We don’t know now exactly what the future of the relationship between the Union and Russia will look like, because it depends on the moving reality of the war against Ukraine, but one thing is certain: we must eliminate any dependence on Russia,” emphasized Bogdan Aurescu.

As regards the accession to the Schengen Area, he stated that the Romanian authorities have demonstrated, by managing the crisis on the border with Ukraine, that „Romania is an essential component for the consolidation of this area for the benefit of the entire Union”.

Agerpres