Romania Queries Moscow After Deputy PM Sends Bomber Jet Tweets.

[elleng]

Source: nyt/reuters

Romania asked Moscow for an explanation on Saturday after Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin, reacting to being barred from its airspace, tweeted he would return in a TU-160 strategic bomber. Rogozin, one of the senior Russian officials sanctioned by the European Union and United States after Moscow moved to annex Crimea, was turned away when his plane tried to fly to Moscow from Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region.

According to his tweets in English, Rogozin, who oversees Russia's powerful arms industry, was also blocked by Ukrainian interceptor jets as he tried to fly home from the Russian-speaking region of Moldava bordering Ukraine. "Upon U.S. request, Romania has closed its air space for my plane," he tweeted. "Ukraine doesn't allow me to pass through again. Next time I'll fly on board TU-160." The supersonic Soviet-era TU-160 is Russia's largest strategic bomber.

The Romanian foreign ministry asked Moscow to clarify whether Rogozin's comments represented "the Russian Federation's official position towards Romania as an EU and NATO member".

It said it "believes the threat of using a Russian strategic bomber plane by a Russian deputy prime minister is a very grave statement under the current regional context."

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/05/10/world/europe/10reuters-ukraine-crisis-romania-russia.html?hp

[okaawhatever]

1. Next question after they answer whether the TU-160 comment was official. What was the head of the

Russian arms industry doing in Transdniestria. There are a few Russian troops there (1200 I think) but they're only there for "peacekeeping". Sounds like the next area to start taking over the local gov't and asking for help from Moscow will be Transdniestria. Just like some people called it a while back.

[951-Riverside]

2. Can everyone just ...chill for a moment?

An estimated 66 million people were killed during WWII just 70 years ago

http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#Second

I don't even want to imagine what the death tolls would be like with nuclear and biological warfare.

[Ash_F]

3. That is a pretty crazy comment. /nt

[Billy Budd]

8. Reminds me of Ronald Reagan sense of humor

"we begin bombing in 5 minutes" laugh riot

[Billy Budd]

9. reminds me of crazy John McCain Bomb bomb Iran

[Ash_F]

10. Yeah, me too. /nt

[darkangel218]

4. Hmm.. so a Russian official made a threat towards Romania

If he was trying to be funny he didn't succeed.

[dipsydoodle]

5. So how did he get there in the first place ?

[uhnope]

7. without permission. nt

[penultimate]

6. lol... Epic troll post.

Although, he might consider creating an account called @FakeDmitriRogozin for future posts.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Unscrambling Rogozin's Flight To Russia

It's been a busy few days for Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

On May 9, he bragged on Twitter about being able to land in Transdniester, Moldova's Moscow-backed separatist region, despite EU travel sanctions.

Now, he is claiming to be safely back in Moscow after eluding Ukrainian fighter jets bent on intercepting his plane.



http://www.rferl.org/content/unscrambling-rogozin-flight-russia-ukraine-transdniester-romania/25380257.html

Apparently he took a regular flight back to Moscow.

[Iterate]

12. The Man Who Lost His Altitude

Christo Grozev has written and compiled an account that's probably as accurate and comprehensive as we're going to get.

@christogrozev
http://cgrozev.wordpress.com/
http://cgrozev.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/the-man-who-lost-his-altitude/

The Man Who Lost His Altitude

Today have have been the most embarrassing day for Russia since the start of the Ukraine crisis. At least it was certainly for Dmitry Rogozin, the abrasive, US-hating, cocky deputy PM of Russia. While Putin was celebrating V-day on the Red Square and later in the Crimea, Rogozin was dispatched to Tiraspol, the capital of the unrecognized sliver of a republic called Transnistria. Not only did this very trip represent a direct affront to Moldova, on whose territory this “republic” says it exists, but he made sure he would offend as many people as possible during the trip. In this tweet, Rogozin warned “pro Romanian activists to carry on their sweet euro-gay parades on other days and not to spoil our festive mood on V-Day”

The Moldovan government – quite politely – warned Rogozin not to make the trip to Tiraspol, because – at the very least – it could not guarantee any security for the VIP guest in Transnistria, not only because Moldova has no functional control over the enclave, but because this dwarf state is probably the least safe place in Europe.
...

http://cgrozev.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/the-man-who-lost-his-altitude/

Some gems from Grozev's blog:

“IT IS NOT PERMITTED TO OVERFLY ROMANIAN AIRSPACE WITH AIRCRAFT
CARRYING ON BOARD PERSONS LISTED TO THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNCIL
DECISION NO. 2014/145/CFSP OF 17 MARCH 2014, EUROPEAN UNION
COUNCIL DECISION NO. 2014/151/CFSP OF 21 MARCH 2014, COUNCIL
REGULATION (EU) NO. 269/2014 OF 17 MARCH 2014 AND COUNCIL
REGULATION (EU) NO. 284/2014 OF 21 MARCH 2014?

?w=271&h=300

The rest of the Russian delegation remains in Tiraspol.

[stevenleser]

13. The entire Russian government has lost their freaking minds.

They have gone from someone I thought the west could work with to a virulently homophobic and belligerent state that I wouldn't set foot in for any amount of money in less than a year.

[Bosonic]

14. It's a government full of macho goons

Followup tweet to Romania TU-160 threat:

Well, Sirs from Romania, we'll soon explain it all to you - who you are and what we think of you

https://twitter.com/DRogozin/status/465168787135025153

[EmilyAnne]

15. "Upon U.S. request, Romania has closed its air space for my plane."

Is this guy a poster on DU?

[darkangel218]

16. What do you mean by that?

[dipsydoodle]

17. Moldova confiscates petition from deputy Russia PM

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldovan authorities said they have stopped Russia's deputy prime minister from leaving the country with a petition calling on Moscow to recognize a separatist region, but he claimed Sunday he had delivered most of the signatures supporting it.

Moldova's Foreign Ministry said late Saturday that authorities confiscated boxes of signatures from Dmitry Rogozin at Chisinau airport and would analyze the material.

Rogozin, however, said on his Facebook that the Moldovan officials "only got a small part" of the signatures. "We have taken due care of the bulk of the cargo," he said, adding that what he called the Moldovan "provocation" will have "serious consequences" for the bilateral ties.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/moldova-confiscates-petition-deputy-russia-pm

[marble falls]

18. Kinda reminds me of....