BUCHAREST, June 19. /TASS/. The policies being pursued by the Romanian authorities towards Russia are not independent. Russia’s ambassador to Bucharest Valery Kuzmin told TASS in an interview.

"Romania’s foreign policy is not independent at the moment. This is a hard fact," he said. "Romania is oriented to Washington. It is emphasizing its strategic partnership with the United States and trying to take the position of the hegemon’s representative in the Black Sea region," Kuzmin. "We see Romania’s efforts to strengthen the eastern flank of NATO. It is in Romania that the first military base with the US missile defense system appeared. Romania is following the course of the big US aircraft carrier," he added.

"Unfriendly, and in recent years openly hostile policies of NATO and the US towards Russia are taken for granted in Romania, without paying the slightest attention to how it might affect bilateral relations," Kuzmin said. "The 2003 Treaty on Friendly Relations and Cooperation between Russia and Romania has actually turned into a declaration of good intentions. Interstate relations are at a point close to zero."

"Russia and Romania cannot change their geographical position, so we have to proceed from some constant values," Kuzmin said. "Russia believes that mutual relations can be restored on this basis. But for this Romania's leaders are to share this viewpoint," he concluded.