“Russia can only be stopped by force and it poses a direct military threat to Romania, the Republic of Moldova, and other countries in the region,” said Igor Prokopchuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Romania, in a special edition of Obiectiv EuroAtlantic, broadcast weekly by DefenseRomania. The diplomat noted that the large-scale invasion unleashed in February 2022 is not just for territorial purposes and that his country is fighting an “existential war,” being only “the first victim of the neo-imperialist ambitions of the Russian aggressor.”
Igor Prokopchuk also commented on statements by NATO officials and officials of member states on the scenario of a possible future high-intensity conflict between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance.
“We are also approaching the tenth anniversary of the moment when Russia invaded Ukrainian territory. Let me remind you that the invasion started in February 2014, when Russian forces appeared without any sign of them in the Crimean Peninsula. This was the first case of attempted annexation of a country’s territory by another country since the Second World War”, Igor Prokopchuk noted.
The ambassador emphasized the seriousness of the violation of international law committed by the Russian Federation ten years ago. They didn’t stop in Crimea, moved to Donbas, and began hostilities in the eastern parts of Ukraine. “Eight years later, they started a full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory,” said Igor Prokopchuk, IPN reports.
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Recently, the Kiev-based Obozrevatel wrote, with reference to a U.S. representative to the OSCE, that the mere existence of Moldova, as well as Poland, Finland, Belarus and Turkey is a “permanent reason for military action” for Russia as all these states contain at least part of the territory that was once controlled by the Russian or Soviet empire.