The escalation of the war on NATO’s borders and Russia’s illegal annexations in Ukraine have led NATO to take further security measures, including in Romania.
NATO continues to strengthen its presence on its eastern flank in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine and its threats to European security. France last week decided to send additional troops and equipment to Romania to consolidate NATO’s eastern flank and the first two of the ten French convoys are already on their way to the military base in Cincu, in Sibiu county. This small town in central Romania is now NATO’s multinational battle group and is due to host some 1,000 European soldiers by the start of next year. Special shipments of ammunitions, food and troop maintenance materials will also be made to Romania on board special trains.
France honours its commitments to NATO and its partners, said Major General Francois Goguenheim, Head of Continental Europe Ground Forces Command:
‘We have a number of accords and working facilities with the Romanians. It’s about coherence. It’s simpler to have a single structure based in a single location rather than spread out in different places. Some NATO member states have based their structures in eastern Europe. France has chosen Romania and now we have decided to boost our presence. We have deployed a forward structure in Cincu, which is almost ready, and now we’re adding this battalion.”
Since the start of the war in the neighbouring Ukraine, the Romanian Navy has constantly been patrolling the Danube and the Black Sea to ensure the safety of navigation in Romania’s territorial waters. An exercise called the Danube Protector and which includes training using live ammunition is under way on the Sfântu Gheorghe canal, where Danube flows into the Black Sea. Taking part are more than 300 Romanian military led by the Mihail Kogălniceanu river flotilla, a unique structure within NATO. The exercise is taking place at a distance of some 300 km from Crimea and some 40 km from Snake Island. Colonel Corneliu Pavel, spokesman for the Romanian Navy, explains: „The Romanian Navy is responsible for some 30,000 square km in the Black Sea, where Romania also has critical infrastructure, its oil fields. The volatile security environment in the Black Sea has led us to readapt our activity plans, and our exercises have become more complex.”
On a diplomatic level, the foreign ministry in Bucharest announced a few days ago that Romania would make a voluntary contribution to the NATO funds aimed at consolidating the resilience and defence capacity of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Jordan worth up to 1.4 billion dollars. The move is intended to enhance the country’s profile within NATO and consolidate security and stability in the proximity of NATO’s eastern flank, in particular in the Black Sea region.
Daniela Budu, Radio Romania International
