PM Ciuca: Sanctions have reached unimaginable levels to underline Russia's exit from international rules

Sanctions unanimously imposed have reached "unimaginable levels," designed to underline "Russia's exit from international rules," Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Friday, Agerpres reports.

"The level of unanimous, coherent and unreserved sanctions has reached unimaginable heights, which are meant to underscore Russia's exit from international rules and the fact that it has to pay for its war of aggression. Could anyone have imagined Germany granting lethal defensive military aid to Ukraine or blocking Nord Stream 2 indefinitely or announcing a cut in dependence on Russian oil and gas and a future disengagement from the Russian supplier? The same thing happened in Europe, across the ocean with the countries that share the same values and think the same," Ciuca told a debate under the aegis of Team Romania organised by the Aspen Institute.

He added that in the UN General Assembly, 141 countries voted for a resolution condemning the Russian aggression, while only five countries voted against: Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea. According to the prime minister, this is an "overwhelming vote" that shows global mobilisation and cohesion "in the face of this enormity of a conventional war of destruction" in the 21st century.

"At the political level, we have seen resilience and quasi-unanimous mobilisation of the international community, the adaptability - unexpected, perhaps, for some - of frontline states, including Romania, to receive waves of refugees and support Ukraine. The Security Council vote on the UN resolution on Ukraine meant 11 votes for, three abstentions and one against - of course, Russia's," Ciuca said.

According to the prime minister, Romania has also taken steps to strengthen its political and military resilience.

"Romania has joined all these efforts and built up its political and military resilience on the basis of its own efforts, as well as by creating a battlegroup, based on the first activation of the NRF, NATO Response Force, the growth of the US and NATO presence in the country, by increasing public defence spending to 2.5% [of the Gross Domestic Product] and by numerous adequate training measures in response to developments on the eastern and northern borders of our country as well as of those in the Black Sea," he said.

Ciuca also mentioned "diligent search" for alternative energy resources for European countries.

"Diplomatic action with Bulgaria and Greece over the vertical corridor and the Bulgaria-Greece interconnector, talks with Turkey on gas transit, the attempt to contract liquefied natural gas to be introduced at the Alexandropolis terminal are all part of the same growth efforts of resilience, as an action at the level of the European Union to finance the offsetting of this excessive increase in prices for energy products through European solutions, as well as the need for loans, resource injections to adapt to a Europe without oil and gas taken from Russian companies," said Ciuca.

He added that all these efforts represent "unique action" carried out extremely fast, highlighting that Romania has demonstrated "resilience and adaptability."

"We are not saying it will be easy. It is unique action carried out overnight practically, extremely fast, an adaptation necessary to contain the effects of the war, stop the fighting and discourage Russia from continuing its aggression on Ukraine and the free world. As far as refugees are concerned, the major waves and difficult to manage have not yet arrived. But Romania has shown resilience and adaptability, including by this combination of efforts at all levels," he said.