Romania defends Nato’s Eastern flank even without a working government and a busted budget

While the eyes of European security experts and the public are on Poland and the Baltics, which face increased threats, another part of Nato’s eastern border is under constant pressure. It must defend itself, even without a proper government and with its public finances in shambles. “They are not alone. We are there to protect them, day and night, seven days a week, all year round. When they are on vacation, when they are at work, we are up there. Maybe you can’t see us, but we will protect you,” said the Romanian F-16 pilot who shot down two Russian drones within 24 hours over the weekend. The interview was published by the Romanian ministry of national defence, without revealing the pilot’s identity. Since last Friday, over the course of the weekend, three Russian drones entered Romanian airspace, one each day. Romanian F-16 pilots didn’t take any chances with them and shot every one of them down. The weekend drone hunt was not the Romanian pilots’ first rodeo. A Romanian fighter jet had already shot down a drone previously, during an air-policing mission in the Baltics. Still, the elimination of a Russian UAV on home turf was a success that the Romanian ministry of defence and the military needed. Romania has seen more than 80 drone incursions into its airspace since the full-scale Russian war in Ukraine began in 2022. These days a drone incursion happens nearly every week. But the most serious one came in May. One of the drones hit a residential building in Galați, injuring a mother and her child, producing the first European casualties of the Russian war outside Ukraine. The incident spurred a debate within the Romanian public about why the country's military didn't strike the drone and protect the residents. "Probably this was a kind of national trigger to the reaction we had," says Romanian defence analyst Radu Tudor. Simply put, the military authorities of Romania decided enough was enough and advised the pilots to engage the intruding aircraft when possible. This was a Russian test, not a coincidence After the weekend's events, Bucharest expelled Russia's ambassador to the country. "We believe that this is actually a Russian test," analyst Radu Magdin explains. "It's not a coincidence that one day after another they keep sending drones." While the fighter-jet pilots passed the Russian "test" with flying colours, it is not ideal, the Romanian experts also say, that cheap Russian drones are downed by rockets worth half a million euros.