Romania–Russia relations are the foreign relations between Romania and Russia. Romania has an embassy in Moscow. Russia has an embassy in Bucharest. Historical relations have oscillated among grudging cooperation, neutrality, open hatred and hostility.
Both countries refused to recognize Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia and strongly supported its territorial integrity. About 30,000 Russians live in Romania, mainly in the Tulcea County (see Lipovans). About 5,308 Romanians live in Russia, mainly in the Russian Far East. Both countries were full members of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, until Russia was suspended from the former in 2022.
In 1992 and 1993, relations between the two were especially strained when they backed opposite sides in the Transnistria conflict. Romania is part of NATO, which Russia views in a highly negative light. Debates over the status of Transnistria maintain antagonism between Romanians and Russians. Furthermore, according to The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804–1999 by Misha Glenny, dislike of Russia and Russians is deeply integrated into Romanian culture since the end of the 19th century due to chronic quarrels between the two countries, and has been for most of the modern era.
Russian opinion on Romania is highly mixed and varied according to the geo-political considerations at one given time, ranging from indifference, sometimes to slight esteem, at times deep frustration and even profound disconsideration. The slight esteem derived from common grounds reached between the two sides at various times, a common Christian Orthodox faith and some common cultural values. Deep frustration and even profound disconsideration remained nevertheless the predominant Russian reaction when both sides were locked into geopolitical struggles.
As one primary Russian geopolitical objective has been expansion of its influence into the Balkan Peninsula the two sides became more often adversaries than partners.
History
18th and early 19th centuries. Russian Protectorate The relationship between the two countries started during the 15th century, when a Moldavian prince, Stephen the Great, married his daughter to the Tsar's son. In 1712, another Moldavian prince, Dimitrie Cantemir allied with Peter the Great to gain independence from the Ottoman Empire. He became one of Peter's courtiers.
Russian-Romanian relations were generally cordial until the end of the 18th century when Russia was helping Wallachia and Moldavia, two principalities that would later join to create Romania, free themselves of Ottoman domination. Russia's role as a spiritual "guardian" for the Ottoman Empire's Orthodox Christian subjects was affirmed in the 1774 Treaty of Kuchuk Kainardji, and Russia soon after gained a border with the Ottoman Empire right next to the principalities.Glenny, Misha. The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers; 1804–1999. Page 15 The "Danubian Principalities" were then semi-autonomous, ruled by Greek Phanariot hospodars, whom the Romanians (both the boyars and the peasantry) widely resented.
1848 to 1853 Russia's actions caused a multiplication of anti-Russian sentiment throughout the Principalities, for each group having a different reason. The urban elite (the later Liberals) were frustrated by Russia's opposition to reform in Romania; while landowning boyars (the later Conservatives) were frustrated by Russia's impediments on the economy.Glenny, Misha. The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers. Pages 57-69 Romania was flooded with French literary works transmitting Enlightenment ideas, and due to the similarity of Romanian and French, these had a much faster effect on Romania than other areas. Hence, from a very early time, there was competition between France and Russia for Romania's affinities, even though Russia was the only one of the two to have any real immediate significance to Romania. These feelings provided only strengthened the anti-Russian sentiment in Romania.
During the Revolutions of 1848, Romanians for the first time revolted against Russia, and the Russian flag and the Organic Declarations were burned in public. Romania in fact wooed the Porte, which had to be "persuaded" by Russia not to aid the Romanians.
In July 1853, Russia invaded and occupied Romania. Russian occupation was harsh and all political organizations were suppressed. When the Porte declared war on Russia in October of that year, Romanians hoped desperately that Russia would be driven from their country (ironically by the country which they had just recently separated from). This wish was granted by the coalition of both Turkey and Austria against Russia.
Support for the 1866 Moldavian separatist uprising Imperial Russia supported the April 3 1866 Moldavian separatist uprising in Iași. Disillusioned by the unification of the Romanian principalities and the centralism in Bucharest, several Moldovan boyars and clerics, with Russian support, tried to separate Moldova from Wallachia and practically break the newly formed Romanian state. The Russian press published articles about the "Moldovans' struggle against the Wallachian Romanians".
Romanian independence
Romania's independence from the Ottoman Empire was achieved mainly with Russian assistance, although during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 the Russians requested military assistance from Romania during the Siege of Plevna, after suffering heavy losses."Reminiscences of the King of Roumania", ed. Harper&Brothers 1899, pp. 275 https://archive.org/stream/reminiscencesofk00kremiala#page/274/mode/2upGlenny, Misha. The Balkans. Page 61-2
1877 to World War I Fear of Russian encroachment in the Balkans drove the Romanians in 1883 into a secret pact with Vienna. The king, Prime Minister Ioan Bratianu, Foreign Minister D. A. Sturdza, and Romanian Minister to Vienna P. P. Carp supported Romania's orientation toward the Central Powers.Nicolae Cazan, "The secret treaty of alliance between Romania and Austria-Hungary" Revue Roumaine d'Etudes Internationales (1973) 4#19 pp 185-205. In addition there was economic competition with Russia. From very early on, however, Romanian economic competition with Russia throttled good relations. Romania is a natural economic rival of Russia (on the eve of World War II, in fact, it was the world's fourth largest food exporter, after Russia, Canada and the United States).Glenny, Misha. The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers. Page 61 Balkans expert Misha Glenny explains Russia's historical attitude towards Romania as such:...Russia saw wheat cultivation in Romania as a threat to its own harvests in southern Russia, much of it sold on to Britain and France. If the Principalities were able to modernize the port facilities on the Danube and the Black Sea, they could begin to undercut the price of Russian wheat on world markets. To throttle this competition, Russia exploited its position as protector of the Principalities by allowing the mouth of the Danube to silt up. Russia's interest in the Principalities was essentially strategic. St. Petersburg wanted a pliant satellite, not an economic competitor. Russia's expansionist designs in the Balkan Peninsula with its conclusive geo-political objective the capture of the strait of Bosphorus and Dardanelles convinced Romania that Russia has no good faith, and forced Romania to look for support somewhere else. Russia's aggressiveness, its projects for territorial conquests was being executed under the policy of Pan-Slavism. Bratianu denounced the danger of the Pan-Slavic idea for the entire Europe. There, on the shores of Bosphorus and Dardanelles, was the key to Europe. Romanian Prime Minister Take Ionescu concludes: "All the efforts made by the empire, all its aspirations, all the Russian impetus are heading towards that point". The Russian conquests in this region would have threatened Romania's existence itself. "We cannot talk about agreements, compromises and concessions. If we still exist, Russia will experience a failure in its plans which have animated the heart of the Russians, for two centuries. If the neighbouring empire succeeds in accomplishing the dream it has pursued with so much confidence and tenacity, the Romanian state and people will become just a memory. This is the truth."
Between 1885 and 1913, Romania and Russia found themselves in two systems of opposed alliances, since both had divergent interests in the Balkan area. Russia's efforts to expand its influence in the Balkans met with the Austro-Hungarian resistance. Since Russia's claims in the Balkans were sustained in most cases by France and Great Britain, and the Austro-Hungarian claims were sustained by Germany, the Balkan Peninsula was about to face the strong political pressures from both side. During the Balkan crisis of 1885–1886 there were marked Russian-Romanian divergences because the Romanian diplomacy supported the election of Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg at the Bulgarian throne, the candidate backed by Austria-Hungary.
In order to improve relations, St. Nicholas Russian Church () was started in central Bucharest in 1905, initiated by Russian Ambassador Mikhail Nikolaevich Giers. The Court of Emperor Nicholas II provided the funds needed for the building (600,000 gold rubles). The structure occupies a surface of 350 m2 and it was set in brick and stone. The seven domes (taking the shape of onion domes — characteristic of Russia, but unusual in Romania) were initially covered in gold. The iconostasis was carved in wood and then covered in gold, following the model of Church of the Twelve Apostles in the Moscow Kremlin. The church was finished in 1909, and it was sanctified on November 25, 1909.
Romania was frustrated with the Triple Alliance and after 1900 moved closer to Russia. Its main goal was to obtain Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire that was part of the Triple Alliance. that Empire in turn was supported by Germany. Romania therefore was pulled toward the Russian orbit especially during the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 the Russians appreciated their entry into the Balkans. High-level royal visits were exchanged. In 1914, however, Romania remained neutral at first, finally joining with Russia, France and Britain in 1916.Sorin Arhire, "From Hostility to Friendship: the Russian-Romanian Relations in the Years Prior to the Outbreak of the First World War." ‘’Былые годы. Российский исторический журнал’’ 3.53 (2019): 1383–1393.
World War I (1916–1918)
When the war began Romania declared neutrality, but began secret negotiations with Russia and Britain whereby they would recognize Romanian acquisition of Transylvania. Nevertheless, for nearly 2 years Romania remained officially neutral, and traded with Austria and Germany. Sensing the imminent success of the Brusilov campaign in the summer of 1916, Bucharest decided the time was ripe to officially join the Allies. It launched an attack on the Austro-Hungarian Empire in August.Vladen N. Vinogradov, "Romania in the First World War: The Years of Neutrality, 1914–1916." International History Review 14.3 (1992): 452-461. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917, across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, as well as southern Dobruja, which is currently part of Bulgaria. It ended with the occupation of most of Romania by the Central Powers.
In 1916–1917, the Romanian government signed a deal with the Russian government which stated that Russia would safe keep the Romanian Treasure in the Kremlin until the end of the war. In early 1918, after the Romanian military intervention in Bessarabia, the new Bolshevik government severed all diplomatic relations and confiscated the Romanian treasure. All the governments of Romania since World War I have tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a return of the gold, but all Soviet and Russian governments have refused.