Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania
At the request of Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Bucharest was summoned to the IAEA headquarters at the level of State Secretary for Strategic Affairs on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, to be informed of the decision of the Romanian authorities to suspend the activities of the Russian Center for Culture and Science in Romania.
The Russian ambassador was reminded of the repeated situations when the Center deliberately participated in actions to distort reality and historical truth at the level of Romanian public opinion. Recently, after the Russian Federation unleashed a war of aggression against Ukraine, these disruptions have intensified and acquired new accents and particular severity. By its actions, the Center has irrevocably departed from its natural goals of strengthening cultural ties and, unfortunately, has become an instrument of propaganda, disinformation, and justification of the Russian Federation’s war crimes in Ukraine.
The Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs conveyed the Romanian side’s strong disapproval of the Russian side’s constant attempts at hybrid attacks and disinformation through truncation and deliberate manipulation of reality and called on the latter to abandon such practices.
The suspension of the Center’s activities will last until August 20, 2023, at the latest, by which time the administrative procedures related to this measure should be complete.
Additional Information
The Russian Center for Culture and Science in Bucharest was established on the basis of the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the Russian Federation on the opening and conditions of operation of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Moscow and the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Bucharest, signed in Moscow on July 9, 2013.
On the basis of this agreement, on May 15, 2015, the Russian Center for Culture and Science was inaugurated with its headquarters at Lascar Catarghiu Boulevard No. 50 in Bucharest.
