The relocation of a Stryker armored vehicles' battalion, with about 1,000 U.S. troops, is a proof of the high level of cooperation between Romania and the U.S., the National Defense Minister Vasile Dincu says on Wednesday, in a press release from the Ministry of National Defense, sent to AGERPRES.
The minister says that he discussed this measure with his American counterpart, Lloyd J. Austin III, during the telephone conversation he had at the end of last week.
"I stressed then the need to strengthen the Allied posture throughout NATO's Eastern Flank, especially in the Black Sea region, as a defensive form of ensuring allied security and deterring aggressive actions in the Black Sea region," Dincu adds, Agerpres.ro informs.
He says that, in that context, he reaffirmed "the need, more than ever, for a coherent, unitary and balanced approach within the framework of the forward presence on the entire Eastern Flank of the Alliance and the Black Sea".
"I am glad that we are taking such an important step in this direction today. The decision announced today, by which a battalion of Stryker armored vehicles, with approximately 1,000 U.S. troops, will join the U.S. military already present in Romania, represents a defensive measure in support of the security and defense of Romania, which will contribute at the same time to the strengthening of the Allied posture of defending and deterring any aggression throughout the Eastern Flank," Vasile Dincu adds.