Russian Ambassador to Romania Vladimir Lipayev said the drone crash in the Romanian city of Galats was not accidental and called it a pre-planned anti-Russian provocation.

In comments to TASS journalists, the ambassador said the drone incident in Galats was not a random event but a planned action.

According to the diplomat, it was a staged Ukrainian provocation with two aims: first, to shift public attention away from the Ukrainian terrorist attack in Starobelsk, and second, to draw a NATO state into a direct military conflict with Russia.

On May 29, an unidentified UAV crashed into a multi-storey residential building in the Romanian city of Galats, near the border with Ukraine’s Odessa Region. After the incident, Romanian President Nicusor Dan urgently convened a meeting of the country’s Supreme Defense Council. The Romanian side claims Russia was allegedly responsible for the incident. In response, Romanian authorities summoned the Russian ambassador and informed him that they had decided to expel the Russian consul general and close the Russian consulate in Konstantsa.