Minister of Foreign Affairs Bohdan Aurescu states that Russian President Vladimir Putin “very wrongly” calculated his plans for the war in Ukraine and instead of dividing NATO and EU members, “promoted unprecedented unity”.

“I think that President Putin miscalculated his plans. He thought that he would attack Ukraine and occupy it in a few days, but this is not the case. Vice versa. Ukraine is resisting, with the help of the international democratic community, and is now counterattacking, which is very important. And Putin’s soldiers gave up the uniform they had at the beginning of the war. Mr. Putin tried to divide us, to attack our unity. On the contrary, unity in NATO is stronger than ever, unity in the EU is greater than ever, unity between the two sides of the Atlantic is greater than ever. He thought he would intimidate countries in the region, including the Alliance and the European Union. the effect was the opposite,” said Aurescu, who attended the 6th Black Sea and Balkan Security Forum on Friday.

He recalled that neutral countries such as Finland and Sweden decided to join the Alliance, other countries of the Eastern neighborhood decided to be more actively involved in the European path, and the June European Council decided to grant the status of a candidate country to Ukraine, and the Republic of Moldova also recognized the European perspective of Georgia. “I think we should thank Mr. Putin for this,” the Romanian minister concluded.

Aurescu emphasized that for Romania, NATO continues to be the “cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic security”.

“We are well aware that security and defense begin at home, so we have decided to increase the defense budget from 2% to 2.5% (GDP – no) from next year. We count on solidarity. At this critical time for our security, we must continue to strengthen NATO as the backbone of our collective defense and an important forum for transatlantic security consultation and Allied decision-making. It is important that we continue to promote the basis of unity and solidarity and the strength of the transatlantic connection, which is stronger than ever, and this is one of the results of the war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine,” said Bohdan Auresku. (Source: Agerpres)