00:00Romania is on the front line of Europe's security challenge.
00:03Russian drone attacks on Ukraine are spilling into Romanian airspace and along the Black Sea,
00:08while Bucharest is warning of a broader campaign of cyberattacks, sabotage and other forms of hybrid warfare.
00:16Romania is calling for stronger NATO deterrence on the eastern flank and closer cooperation among European allies.
00:23So how serious is the Russian threat, especially the one posed by drone attacks?
00:28Earlier, I put this question to Romanian Foreign Minister Oana Silvia Toyu.
00:33It's definitely an increase in the security risks.
00:37We have seen this year, for example, a threefold increase compared with previous years.
00:43It's though the spillover effect of an increased number of attacks that Russia has in targeting Ukrainian infrastructure at our
00:51border,
00:51the ports, crossing points at the border and so on.
00:57It's Russia's strategy to try to create chalk points on Ukraine's economy.
01:02And that is why, for example, something that we've done this week in New York and what we aim to
01:07build is, again, something similar with the solidarity lanes.
01:11We have had the Black Sea, a ceasefire, a moratorium that would enable us, especially through the port of Constanza,
01:18to support the proper commercial lanes in the Black Sea, together with Turkey, Bulgaria, Ukraine, of course.
01:24Now, you have called for a stronger protection of NATO's eastern flank.
01:29Yes.
01:29What exactly is it that you want from European allies?
01:33Is it air defense? Is it more troops?
01:36Well, it's not just what we want or what I want.
01:40It's rather what we all collectively need.
01:41We're talking with partners from United States in their review process of their European posture to make sure, together, when
01:50we look at the eastern flank,
01:52when we look at the Black Sea, when we look at Romania's capabilities, we ensure the fact that, together, we
01:59need a stronger deterrence and defense,
02:01not just for our border.
02:02It's also, when we protect our border, it's also the Schengen border, NATO, the European Union's border.
02:09How concerned, Minister, are you about Russian hybrid warfare, the sabotage, the disinformation, the cyber attacks against Romania and other
02:24EU countries?
02:24The cyber-hybrid interferences of Russia are actually their most assertive part directed to countries that are members of the
02:34European Union.
02:35Be it cyber attacks, and we have proposed for the first time a listing of some individuals that we have
02:43analyzed to be part of the cyber attacks that have targeted Romania.
02:48I've spoken with a lot of my counterparts in terms of the hybrid interferences they see with specific attacks on
02:56ammunition and military equipment factories,
03:00or there's a lot of concern on our capacity to protect from hybrid attacks, the undersea cables, railways in Poland
03:08have been the target of hybrid attacks, and so on.
03:12But it is absolutely necessary, both at NATO and at the EU level, that we increase not just our analysis
03:19capacity, our coordination,
03:21but also our capacity to respond in terms of protecting ourselves from this type of hybrid interferences.
