NATO’s Sectretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived in Romania on Monday, discussed with President Klaus Iohannis about the security situation on the Alliance’s Eastern flank. ”We will do what is necessary to protect and defend all Allies. Here in Bucharest, NATO Foreign Ministers will address ways to step up our support for Ukraine, as well as other partners facing Russian pressure – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Moldova,” Stoltenberg said. He pointed out that Romania proved to be a generous host to a huge number of refugees and it assisted with the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to help ease the global food crisis, at the same time providing significant military assistance to Ukraine. Stoltenberg also said that Putin is trying to use the winter as a weapon of war against Ukraine, for which reason he cannot be let to win, because that would show authoritarian leaders around the world that they can achieve their goals by using military force.
In his turn, President Iohannis said that against the background of the war in Ukraine, NATO needs more than ever to be strong and united, and that he expects the meeting in Bucharest to confirm that objective.
Also on Monday, ahead of the NATO ministerial meeting, Stoltenberg met with the Romanian PM Nicolae Ciuca. He thanked Romania for its contribution to the Alliance’s policies and missions and for raising the defense budget to 2.5% of the GDP, starting 2023. He also said that NATO has 300,000 troops on high alert that can be dispatched at various times, has doubled its number of battlegroups at the level of battalions, that can be enhanced at brigade-level and has doubled the equipment pre-installed in the region. Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu also met with Jens Stoltenberg. The NATO official thanked Minister Aurescu for the preparations made for the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bucharest. He also emphasized the importance of NATO granting Ukraine further support to consolidate its resilience in the face of the unprecedented threats it is facing. “We have increased our presence in Romania, in the Black Sea region over many years, since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea back in 2014. But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, we have stepped up further with more troops, more air and naval presence. And all this demonstrates that NATO is committed to defend every inch of Allied territory and the reason we do that is of course to prevent an attack on an Allied country and to prevent escalation of the war in Ukraine,” Jens Stoltenberg said. (Leyla Cheamil)
