The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that the Romanian Embassy in Moscow recently canceled the visas of 14 Russian journalists from Russia Today, who wanted to enter our country as members of an official delegation to participate in the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU ), which will take place in Bucharest. The announcement comes as a reaction to the statements of the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who accused Romania of violating the regulations of the ITU Conference by canceling the visas of the delegation members. The decision to cancel the visas was based “including on considerations related to Romania’s national security”, the MAE from Bucharest also states.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest states in a statement that the Romanian Embassy in Moscow issued visas for 17 members of the official Russian delegation that was to come to Bucharest, to participate in the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the International Telecommunication Union.
Later, the Romanian authorities withdrew 14 of the 17 visas, after finding that the so-called members of the official Russian delegation were in fact journalists at Russia Today, a media institution that was banned in the European Union as part of the sanctions imposed on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. The decision to withdraw the visas was based “including on considerations related to Romania’s national security”, according to the MAE statement.
“Regarding the comment of the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation regarding the revocation by the Romanian Embassy in Moscow of the visas granted to persons designated by the Russian Federation as its official delegates to the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which takes place in Bucharest, from September 26 to October 14 this year, organized by ITU and hosted by Romania, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs specifies the following:
Entry visas were granted to all 17 officials designated by the Russian Federation as members of the official delegation of this state to the ITU Conference in Bucharest, as requested by the Russian side.
The decision of the competent Romanian authorities, based including on considerations related to the national security of Romania, which led to the revocation of some visas, referred exclusively to a number of 14 journalists of Russia Today, who were abusively notified by the Russian Federation as officials belonging to Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media.
Thus, taking into account the aspects already specified, it is obvious that by the adopted decision the participation and representation interests of the Russian Federation at the ITU Conference in Bucharest were not affected in any way, the accusation of the Russian side according to which this measure would aim at affecting the chances of a candidate Russian to be elected to a leadership position within the organization being completely absurd and manifestly unfounded,” the MFA statement reads.
Bucharest’s reaction comes after the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Marisa Zaharova, accused Romania of violating the regulations of the ITU Conference by canceling the visas of the delegation members.
Maria Zaharova declared on Friday that our country “flagrantly violated the ITU Convention”, and Romania’s decision “shows its inconsistency as the host of the congress of one of the oldest international organizations”, according to her statement, published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The spokeswoman also accused Romania of playing games with the USA with this decision, because the new secretary general of the organization is to be elected at the congress, a position for which the USA and Russia are running, and the Russian candidate is now at a disadvantage.
Editor: Bogdan Pacurar
Tags: Romania canceled visas journalists Russia Today gave Russian officials Russian delegation consisted people
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