A Russian drone has appeared on Romanian territory several times. The last time was last weekend, when two allied Romanian fighters also took to the air. Ground radars detected the Russian drone for the first time over international waters in the Black Sea, they had it on the screen for at least half an hour. It then crashed into a Romanian agricultural field.
Fighter pilots also tracked the drone using radars. But they could not shoot him down, because it would be illegal under the current Romanian legislation. They can shoot down either an unknown or an enemy object only after prior communication with the aircraft and after firing warning shots, according to the rules of deployment of the Romanian Air Force (ROE), according to which the pilots must first determine whether it is a real threat.
In addition, these rules do not take into account drones, which are currently a very popular weapon. They do not have pilots, which makes it impossible to communicate with them, writes The Kyiv Post.
“The problem is, of course, the legislation. The current legislation is old and ambiguous. It does not allow shooting at a drone violating Romanian airspace,” the Romanian website Ziar.com quotes a Ukrainian newspaper.
On Monday, the President of the Romanian Senate, Nicolae Ciucă, presented a bill to amend the law, which in the future, in the event of another violation of the airspace by a Russian drone, would allow the pilots of the Romanian Air Force to do more than just observe or accompany the drone. On Wednesday, the Senate Defense Committee met with representatives of the Ministry of Defense to discuss the changes to the law.
Romania has been encountering Russian drones on its territory for over a year and a half, the most affected is the border village of Plauru, which is located just a few hundred meters from the Ukrainian port city of Izmajil across the Danube River. Over the weekend, for the first time ever, the wreckage of a Russian drone also fell on the territory of Latvia, which also did not shoot it down and only observed it.
