Will Russia Hike Romanian Energy Prices Following WW2 Comments?

Romanian Senate Speaker Mircea Geoana has characterized recent statements by President Traian Basescu on World War II as "a diplomatic blunder" with negative repercussions on the relations between Romania and the Russian Federation.
In a televised interview, Basescu said he agreed with Marshal Ion Antonescu, who declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941, adding that he would have done the same, Gandul newspaper reported.

The Russian Federation’s Foreign Ministry was quick to react, saying in a statement, "Russia is outraged by Romanian President Traian Basescu's recent remarks that 'in place of Marshal Ion Antonescu in 1941, he too would have ordered Romanian soldiers to cross the Prut River,' to participate in the aggression of Hitler's Germany against the USSR. Such a statement, made all the more so on the sad day of the 70th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War, during which our people lost 27 million lives, is impossible to explain. It is absolutely obvious that such shameless bravado, justifying the fascist aggression and desecrating the memory of the millions of Nazi victims, is intolerable and should get an adequate assessment from civilized Europe,"

Geoana called Basescu's statement about the World War II "a mistake and a diplomatic blunder," adding, "We need to negotiate a new natural gas import contract and the Russians will raise the price of gas because of President Basescu's statement." Before concluding that Romania needed a normal dialogue with the Russian Federation, even if "they will never love each other."
 
By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com