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Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Geoana, said on Wednesday evening, in Brussels, during an exclusive interview for AGERPRES, that he wants Romanians to be absolutely convinced that NATO is very serious in defending the entire allied territory, including Romania.
Referring to the transformation of the battle group in Romania into a brigade, something for which the authorities in Bucharest are currently taking steps, the senior NATO official said, among other things, that this will be tested through an exercise that will take place in Romania this spring.
"I want to welcome the fact that France and other allies, together with the ally the host country Romania, are getting ready very seriously to be able to create the conditions for this battle group to be, if necessary, brought to the level of a brigade. And this will be tested through an exercise that we will do in Romania this spring (...) Not only in Romania, but in all the combat groups, there is a combined effort of the countries that make up those combat groups and obviously us, from NATO, in order to be sure that we have military exercises that allow us to practice that," said Mircea Geoana.
He also stated that "there is very often, and it is legitimate, an interest in quantity: how much, at what level? We also put a lot of emphasis on quality, on the multi-domain dimension".
"Because, for example, in the case of Romania, the Black Sea is a complex case. And in the case of Romania it is very important to have this multidimensional perspective, both cyber, and spatial, and intelligence, and issues related to marine and submarine in the sense technologies adapted to the situation there", Geoana explained.
He wanted to specify that the battle group in Romania is developing very well. "Romania is doing its duty as a host country, and is investing and is preparing for this, and we, until [the meeting in] Vilnius, will be sure that we will have the entire eastern flank practiced up to the brigade level and we will see in the next period all the elements that make this up".
"And, once again, I want the Romanian men and women, those who will read this interview, to be absolutely convinced that NATO is very serious in the defense of the entire allied territory, including and especially - since it is about my country - Romania", emphasized the deputy general secretary of NATO.
Regarding a possible Ukrainian offensive this spring, which was first talked about by the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, the NATO official said that the Ukrainians are calculating their chances very carefully.
"We can say that the way they planned their recent counter-attacks - both in Donbas and in the south - shows us that they are military leaders and political leaders who know how to calculate their decisions very carefully. That's why we are convinced of the fact that when they decide, and where they decide, and how they decide, they will take into account both the realities on the ground and the realities related to logistics. And the secretary general said that it is actually a war of logistics as well. And I am convinced that these things are taken into account by our Ukrainian partners and I am convinced that when they launch this offensive, or offensives, in the plural, they will enjoy success", assured Mircea Geoana.
In the interview, which will be published in full on Thursday, Mircea Geoana also referred to how the war in Ukraine could evolve, to the adjustment of surveillance and interception systems at the air and anti-aircraft level, and to his future plans.
