Attending the extraordinary NATO summit on Thursday, in Brussels, the heads of state and government of the 30 member states approved 4 new combat groups in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary. These will supplement the already existing 4 groups in the Baltic countries and Poland. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that defense at sea and in the air will be strengthened, cyber security will be strengthened, and the Ukrainian army will be equipped with anti-tank and anti-missile systems, as well as with equipment for the detection and protection against nuclear and chemical weapons. He said no troops would be sent to the former Soviet republic. The allies are doing what they can to support Ukraine with weapons so that the Ukrainians can defend themselves, but ‘we have a responsibility to prevent it from becoming a war in Europe’, Jens Stoltenberg said. On the other hand, NATO has urged China not to support Moscow economically or militarily. At the same time, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was condemned in the strongest possible terms, the Alliance calling on the Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war immediately, and requesting Belarus to end its complicity. Present in Brussels, together with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, President Klaus Iohannis underlined that boosting NATO’s presence in Romania, the Black Sea and the entire Eastern Flank is a strategic objective of Romania, in response to the implications of the Russian aggression on the European and Euro-Atlantic security, and this consolidated presence must be unified, balanced and coherent, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. US President Joe Biden was also present at the summit, the second extraordinary summit of the North Atlantic Alliance this year, after the one on February 25.
