Romania Closes Russian Consulate in Constanța, Expels Consul After Galați Drone Strike
Romania ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Constanța and declared the Russian consul general persona non grata, after a Russian Geran-2 attack drone crashed into the roof of a 10-storey apartment block in Galați overnight. Two people were injured — the first reported injuries on NATO soil since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. President Nicușor Dan announced the consular expulsion and consulate closure following a meeting of the National Security Council. Bucharest is weighing formal Article 4 consultation with NATO allies. The NATO Secretary General condemned “Russia’s recklessness”; Berlin called it a “serious and irresponsible escalation”.
Romania has now expelled Russian diplomats and closed Russian consular infrastructure in direct response to the strike. Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty allows a member to call for consultation when its “territorial integrity, political independence or security” is threatened; it has been invoked seven times in the alliance’s history. Russian drone incursions into Romanian airspace have been logged dozens of times since the start of the war, but Galați is the first residential-area strike with casualties. The expulsion + consulate closure step lifts the diplomatic temperature beyond the level Poland or Latvia reached in earlier drone incidents. Romanian F-16s scrambled during the overnight Russian strike package against Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry has not commented on the consulate expulsion.