Romanian President Traian Basescu recently criticized the European Union’s stance on Russia in regard to the EU’s response to Russia’s involvement in the MH17 plane shot down that killed all 298 passengers, crashing in Ukraine. In statements made by President Basescu, the President went onto say, “We’re now facing a reality because we didn’t discourage Putin, because in Eastern Europe, there’s a conflict fueled by the Russian Federation with military equipment, politically, with personnel, so that 192 Dutch Citizens died on Monday.”

The criticism and the scathing statement made on Monday the 21st of July was in reference to the accusations that Russian backed rebels whom are believed to be behind the shoot down of MH17 were supplied with equipment by the Russian government which enabled them to shoot down MH17, killing all on board.

The plane was on its way from Amsterdam to Thailand when its pilot’s decided to cross Ukrainian airspace in order to save time; however, the plane became a victim of the Ukrainian civil war when it was shot down by Pro-Russian rebels who are fighting the Ukraine army for a separate Pro- Russian Eastern Ukraine.

The same flight path was banned by the United States’ federal aviation administration for all United States based flights, due to the current civil war.

The President went onto comment about the EU’s lack of will in terms of sanctions on Russia by commenting, “There’s always an argument, one country has a big investment, other has to deliver sophisticated equipment, and another is natural gas dependent.” Mr. Basescu said in referring to the numerous complicated relationships between European countries and Russia and the lack of will to inflict serious sanctions on the Russian Government.

Why a Romanian President Criticizes Lack of Action

There are also fears that Russia is not only going to stop with the annexation of Crimea and its attempt to annex Eastern Ukraine and the President went on to reflect that in his statement by saying, “Today is Ukraine, then the Baltic states are reached, then Poland and then Romania. Aren’t we at risk by making economic considerations weigh more than solidarity with states in the EU eastern flank”?