Astana, May 29 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the origin of the drone that struck a residential building in a Romanian city near the Ukrainian border has not been established and called on Bucharest to provide evidence that it was a Russian device.
“No one can determine the origin (of the drone) until an examination of the device has been carried out,” the Kremlin leader said at a press conference at the end of his three-day visit to Kazakhstan to attend the Eurasian Economic Union summit.
Putin said he was unaware of the details of the incident until shortly before the press conference.
He added that Moscow is prepared to “conduct an objective investigation” and only afterward issue its assessment of what occurred.
At the same time, he emphasized that on previous occasions, when Ukrainian drones entered the airspace of neighboring countries, initial assumptions often pointed to Russia.
“Possibly, this is a similar situation,” he said.
Russian Foreign Ministry says Western countries diverting attention
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that Western countries were creating “noise” around the incident in Romania in order to “divert attention” from a recent deadly Ukrainian attack on a student residence in the occupied Luhansk region, which Russia says left 21 people dead.
Zakharova also argued that Romania needed a justification for closing the Russian consulate and had now found one, adding that Moscow’s response to that measure would not be long in coming.
The drone struck an apartment building early Friday morning in the Romanian city of Galați, near the Ukrainian border, triggering a fire that caused minor injuries to two people, according to Romanian authorities.
Romania announced that it would take proportionate measures following the incident and requested that NATO deploy additional air-defense systems in the country.
Shortly afterward, Bucharest announced the closure of Russia’s Consulate General in Constanța and declared the Russian consul “persona non grata.” EFE