One of your average anti-Russian propagandist, wrote some illogical ‘question’ on Quora (not sure why I’m getting targeted e-mails from them – else I wouldn’t have known about the crap). The only thing which caught my attention and triggered my answer was the assertion that Russia invaded Romania 12 times.

I share here the comment I wrote in reply, truly annoyed by the disgusting broad strokes cheap, but relentless, propaganda continuously employs.

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Which were those 12 invasions ? Not any march through or battles fought on the territory of an Ottoman Empire’s subject (even if politically autonomous) counts as an invasion.

I assume you grouped Wallachia and Moldova principalities under the term of Romania, which is a stretch, a sort of historical hindsight. They are and were Romanians inhabited territories and they were autonomous states, but not yet Romania.

This is a way to trivialize the major events – either significant territorial losses, some not related to an invasion, or indirectly triggered, yet terribly consequential outcomes, like the Phanariotes 100+ years rule which was imposed by the Turks after the combined Moldova and Russia troops were defeated (Dimitrie Cantemir’s Moldova being part of a treaty based alliance with Peter the Great’s Russia !).

Technically, Romania, as a modern state, exists from 1859, known as the United Principalities first, then taking the name of Romania (since 1862), under the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza.

From that moment on I know only of one invasion level event – the 1940 Soviet Union ultimatum, which threatened with invasion if not accepted.

Sure, the 1944 entering of the Russian troops and then occupation (again, a tacitly accepted one in the absence of a proper armistice agreement when the 23rd August coup occurred) could be seen as a distinct invasion, but it is only a continuation of the 1940 ultimatum and the loss of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, which was followed by the 1941 Romanian reply, when Romania joined Germany in the war to take back its lost territories. (Technically, at least after Romanian troops crossed over Nistru and then reached Odessa, Crimea, Stalingrad and beyond, you could say it was Romania who invaded – but this would mean to willingly ignore the events just one year before and the field realities of an ongoing war.)

During this time (from 1859 unification on) Romania and Russia were mostly allies. At least twice the alliance really mattered – in 1877, when Romania gained full independence after participating in the Russia-Ottoman war alongside Russia (at the request of Russia!) and during WW1.

Btw, Romanian first unification from 1859 was a direct consequence of the Crimean war and it is quite illustrative for the complex political play of the era and area. Both Russia and the Ottoman Empire lost with respect to Romanian territories, which were placed under a continental great powers, mostly Western, supervision.

Even when we lost (again) the Bugeac/Southern Bessarabia (today under Ukrainian control, not Russian) we received instead Dobrogea as a compensation – which, in time, proved to be quite a substantial territorial and strategical gain.

So, there’s a complicated history between Romania and Tsarist Russia/USSR/Russia of today.

Not to mention the only imaginable hotspot, today, would be Transnistria, which wasn’t part of the Greater Romania territory (the maximum territorial extent in modern times) and which today is not part of Romania per se but of the second Romanian state, the artificial Rep. of Moldova.

While Romania has perfectly legitimate territorial claims on Ukraine – Northern Bukovina (Cernauti region), Southern Bessarabia and the Snakes Island.