BUCHAREST, June 19. /TASS/. The Romanian authorities' decision to slash the staff of the Russian embassy in Bucharest is a manifestion of diplomacy of the hybrid war era, Russian Ambassador to Romania Valery Kuzmin told TASS in an interview.
"In fact, a page has been turned in the history of diplomacy," he said. "Now we are talking about hybrid war diplomacy with its new, peculiar forms and a situation where one has to adapt to restrictions and use other channels." He specified that whereas last spring, when ten Russian diplomats were declared personae non gratae, they could be replaced, now the staff of the diplomatic mission has been reduced.
"Of course, we regard this step as an unfriendly act, which goes in line with NATO and EU policies," Kuzmin said.
According to the ambassador, the Russian school at the embassy will cease to exist, because its staff is the administrative and technical personnel of the embassy.
"They will be forced to leave," Kuzmin said.
"We are looking for a way out, because there are many people in Romania who wish their children to be educated in Russian. We will use a system of distance learning. Such schools already exist in Russia," he pointed out.
"The closure of the Russian Center for Science and Culture, in fact, shifts the function of maintaining cultural and humanitarian relations between the two countries to the weakened embassy," he continued. "We will try to work with the support of active organizations of compatriots, who are interested in studying the Russian language.
"Thus, the embassy will continue to work on consular and cultural tracks. After all, bilateral relations have not broken off. Only the top of the pyramid frozen. We are ready for a diplomatic dialogue, if, of course, there is such an opportunity.
"We are not discouraged," the Russian ambassador stated. "You know, in the Ottoman Empire the sultan could imprison a foreign ambassador in a tower, but the true diplomat managed to expand and deepen relations even from behind bars."