War and Russian propaganda are two sides of the same desire for control on the part of Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Tarnea said on Monday, reacting to statements made by a Russian official about relations between Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

'Any Russian official speaking about a country's national identity is in obvious contradiction. While spouting this kind of Stalinist propaganda, Russia is engaged in a brutal war of conquest. Russia kills civilians every day while denying the sovereignty and national identity of a neighbor. How can anyone take seriously any statement on such subjects coming from Moscow? In tsarist Russia and later in the communist Soviet Union, official policy was one of the forced Russification of occupied peoples,' Andrei Tarnea said.

He pointed out that the days when Moscow chose for these nations by force or imposed what they should do were over.

'National identities and national aspirations do not respond to Moscow's demands, whether it is a matter of language or of economic and investment decisions. The days when Moscow chose for these nations by force or imposed what they should do are over. War and Russian propaganda are two sides of the same desire for control on the part of Moscow,' Tarnea said.

Yury Pilipson, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second European Department, said on Sunday in an interview with TASS that Romanian authorities are providing direct military support to Ukraine.

'Today, Romania is already involved in providing direct military-logistical support to the regime in Kyiv,' the Russian diplomat said.

According to him, the Moldovan port of Giurgiulesti, whose operator was acquired by Romania, has been turned 'into a transit hub for the delivery of various goods to Ukraine, including those intended for the Ukrainian armed forces.'

Bucharest has said that the acquisition of the port, through which more than 70% of Moldova's maritime imports and exports pass, represents a step toward 'economic reunification', adding that it will be used 'for the reconstruction of Ukraine'. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Florea; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)

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