Romanian authorities decided to suspend the activity of the Russian Center for Culture and Science in Bucharest, which they say, has turned into "a tool for propaganda, disinformation and justifying the Russian Federation's war crimes in Ukraine."

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) said the Russian ambassador to Bucharest (pictured) was summoned to the ministry on Tuesday, February 21, to be notified about this decision.

"The Russian ambassador was reminded of the repeated situations in which the Center deliberately engaged in actions to distort reality and the historical truth at the level of Romanian public opinion. These slippages intensified and acquired new accents, of particular gravity, in the recent period, after the Russian Federation launched the war of aggression against Ukraine," MAE said in a press release.

The ministry also said that, through its actions, "the center irremediably strayed from its natural goals of strengthening cultural ties and regrettably turned into a tool for propaganda, disinformation and justifying the war crimes of the Russian Federation in Ukraine."

The suspension of the Center's activity will take place by August 20, 2023, at the latest, by which time the administrative procedures involved in this measure must be completed.

The Russian Center for Culture and Science in Bucharest was established based on the agreement between the governments of Romania and Russia regarding the opening and operating conditions of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Moscow and the Russian Center for Culture and Science in Bucharest, signed in Moscow on July 9, 2013.

Based on the abovementioned agreement, the Russian cultural center was inaugurated in Bucharest on May 15, 2015.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/George Calin)