Romania rewrites its history again NATO's headquarters in Brussels continues to prioritize mutual trust in relations between the alliance and Russia. Brussels' NATO-expansion policy implies that new members can join on a purely voluntary basis, and that none of the 27 NATO countries has any territorial claims against its neighbors.
In reality, it is the other way round. Estonian politicians regularly demand that Moscow return the Pytalovo District of Russia's Pskov Region. Bucharest also reminds Ukraine and Moldova that Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were part of Romania from 1918 until 1940. Romania maintains that it had every right to occupy both regions in December 1917 when the Russian Empire was rapidly disintegrating. However, Russian and Romanian representatives signed an Entente-brokered agreement in Jassy (Iasi), Romania, on March 5, 1918. Under the document, Romania pledged to withdraw its forces from Bessarabia within two months. Instead, the Romanian occupation lasted for over 20 years. Romania, which joined NATO in 2004, promptly voiced territorial claims to Ukraine, as well as the right to control the continental shelf. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko pandered to Romania, hoping that Bucharest would support Kiev's NATO membership bid. Yushchenko had no misgivings about the fact that 80 percent of the continental shelf contained 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas and ten million metric tons of crude oil. Moreover, Yushchenko agreed to allow the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial body of the United Nations, to examine the future of Zmeiny Island. He assured Romanian President Traian Basescu that Ukraine would unfailingly abide by any ICJ decision. After gaining control of the continental shelf, Romania granted hydrocarbon-production rights to Rompetrol Group N.V., a multinational oil company based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The company subsequently leased the rights to the deposits to its U.S. friends for a period of 30 years, swelling the Romanian budget. Bucharest, inspired by this success, now voices claims to the small Maikan Island making it possible to control the Danube River. The Ukrainian public is also concerned about Bucharest's possible decision to issue Romanian passports to Ukrainians who lived in Romania before 1940. Kiev sees this as a first step to resuming territorial claims to Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. Romania which initiates all these actions under NATO auspices assumes that Kiev will not want to sour relations with the alliance and the EU. But it appears that Bucharest underestimates the Ukrainian government's determination to defend its regional interests. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko recently told the people of Ukraine that his ministry was determined to defend national interests in its dialogue with Romania, which strives to rewrite the history of its relations with neighboring nations under NATO auspices. http://en.rian.ru/papers/20100831/160410373.html _______________________________________________ News mailing list News@antic.org http://lists.antic.org/mailman/listinfo/news
