In Romania’s distinguished international career after 1989, Romanian diplomacy can boast of its successes, such as joining NATO and then the European Union. Romania has been an active participant in numerous international military and civilian missions, even in the fight against Somali pirates, and the army has consistently received the highest level of trust from Romanians. However, ambitions in foreign affairs or defense do not differ much from one political party to another, and the topic appears in the press rather when another MIG falls, old Fs are bought or some Japanese prime minister wanders into a village museum.

We are now in the midst of a Russian military invasion of the country with which we share the longest border, Ukraine. Our country condemned and imposed sanctions on Russia together with its partners from the EU and NATO. We are taking part in broad political, military and humanitarian actions that try to cope with the crisis, and Romanian public opinion, although far from the anti-Russian hostility of the Baltic countries, is becoming closer to the European media, which is opposed to the Kremlin. , despite huge Russian propaganda.

But we are afraid to really declare what kind of military aid we provide to Ukraine.

While on the BBC show, known for its awkward questions, Bohdan Aurescu avoided answering how Romania helps Ukraine, even when it was emphasized that in a democracy citizens should know such things.

President Klaus Iohannis declares that specialists are given special assistance, and that’s it.

While almost every other European government, from Albania to Sweden, makes almost daily announcements about the military equipment they are sending to Ukrainians besieged by the Russians, Romania has only once announced aid of 3 million euros, but even the official the ad for this, at least as of this writing, no longer exists, it appears to have been removed from the MAPN website.

Secretomania, a good strategy?

Let’s face it: In foreign affairs, especially security and defense, there are many possible strategies. It’s all a matter of choice, and you can rarely be 100% sure which solution is best. Government of Romania to choose to continue the relatively conservative and extremely cautious behavior espoused by MAE or MAPN and at other times in the past.

But now that the revelations in the Pentagon Leaks actually show the real situation, it is time for the government, and especially for the citizens, to take a closer look at this decision. Now that it’s “known” anyway, does it make sense to keep it all a secret? But, first of all, was it a wise decision for Romania to keep the military aid that we offered or are offering to Ukraine a secret?

There are several possible arguments and counter-arguments, some of which may relate to the external context, others to the internal, but also possible technical or political arguments. Some are international and more serious, related to the danger to Romania or the Republic of Moldova, while others are internal and more political, related to public opinion in Romania and the real situation of Romanian military equipment.

1 Danger of exposing Romania to security risks

The argument could be that by declaring military participation, sending military materials or training Ukrainian soldiers, Romania would expose itself to Russia, putting Romanian citizens at risk. The logic is that if we keep everything secret, if it goes well or if it goes badly, we can decide after the war how and what to talk about, to our advantage, in that context.

Obviously, the fact that the information somehow got out de facto invalidates that argument, but even without a 21-year-old posting top-secret Pentagon briefings on Discord every month, the argument is shaky. First, the reality is that, unfortunately, Romanians are already in danger. They are in danger because they are neighbors with a country that has been vilified by Vladimir Putin, they are in danger because they are the target of massive disinformation campaigns paid for by the Kremlin, and they are also in danger because Russia is also trying to destabilize the situation. the political scene in Romania for several years, perhaps supporting some anti-establishment politicians.

Romanians are already suffering a lot because of Russia’s actions. Assuming opposition to these actions would only put us on a par with the world, that is, with other partners in NATO and the European Union. In fact, the only other EU country making less of a (declared) effort than Romania is Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, the most pro-Russian European leader.

In addition, membership in NATO binds us to the international context of any actions of our allies, regardless of whether Poland publicly declares every bullet it sends to Ukraine or Romania does not.

2 Danger for the Republic of Moldova

Another argument, which at first glance seems more valid, is that we do not want to expose the Republic of Moldova to greater danger. Chisinau is deliberately neutral towards Russia, although President Maia Sandu has strongly condemned the Russian invasion. But the logic of this reason would be as follows: Romania has extremely close relations with the Republic of Moldova, and everything we do has an impact on them, given Russia’s economic ties with Moldova, we do not want to harm them in any way. our actions

But my question would be: we as a country or we as the European Union, what do we really want for Moldova? When the government itself in Chisinau takes a pro-European stance, and when we learn that because of this Russia is actually trying to stage a coup d’état there, how exactly can Romania make the situation worse?

How can the news that we are helping Ukraine militarily, which has already passed, change the situation for the worse? Having already cut off the gas, will Russia now start pumping it through the pipeline back to the one already in Moldova? Will they give even more money to anti-Europeans and crazy people to make noise? They are going to attack Moldova militarily… because Romania is helping Ukraine… through Ukrainian territory – which they can’t occupy anyway?

This argument deserves a separate discussion, but if Romania shows such great interest in Moldova, perhaps, on the contrary, a predictable and public strategy of supporting anyone who faces Russian aggression, Kyiv, so later we can say also Chisinau, would be much more useful. Especially now, in the face of intensified efforts by the Kremlin to overthrow the democratically elected pro-European government (and note, pro-European also means pro-Romanian, because we are Europeans, no matter what we-know-who says).

3 Romanian anti-war public opinion

But let’s look internally and at the statements of many Romanians who are so concerned about peace in Ukraine, regardless of the price that Ukrainians have to pay (territory, human lives or kidnapped children). If we assume that the PSD-PNL government is concerned about the preferences of Romanians, then the decision to hide the aid can be more specifically explained by a desire not to alienate its voters, the voters the BBC reporter was talking about.

In this way, the Government does not upset its electorate, which is afraid of the escalation of the conflict, but at the same time resolves its Euro-Atlantic obligations.

Almost for the first time in the history of Romania: someone is doing it, but not bragging.

But then the question arises: why are Romanians against real support for Ukraine? Are Romanians really so reluctant, or are they a noisy minority enamored with Russian anti-Ukrainian propaganda, nationalists and anti-others Are the AUR simply rationally concerned with the interests of Romanians above all else, but absolutely everything else?

Many take it for granted that the defeat of Ukraine would be absolutely devastating to the stability, security and prosperity of Europe, but has this been communicated to the Romanians in a coherent and consistent manner? If the government believes – and we now know it does – that Ukraine needs help, has it tried to use its many communications levers to inform and educate an electorate it may fear? Read the whole article and comment on Contributors.ro