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Romania's President Klaus Iohannis, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg and NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana on Friday travelled to the 57th Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base as part of the arrival in Romania of 1,000 US forces of the Stryker battalion.
Iohannis and Stoltenberg had private and public talks. Afterwards, they met the troops stationed at the military base, toured an exhibition of military equipment, and held a joint news conference where they pointed out that the presence of NATO troops in Romania conveys a message of NATO unity.
"The presence of NATO troops here in Romania is so important. Because that sends unwavering and ironclad message of Alliance unity, that we are here together that we stand united. And of course, the presence of US troops at this base in Romania sends a very strong message of US North American commitment to European security," said Stoltenberg.
In response to a question about a further Russian invasion in Ukraine, Stoltenberg warned that there was a real risk because what we see now is that the military build-up in and around Ukraine continues so there is a real risk for a new armed conflict in Europe. "The number of Russian troops is going up and the warning time is going down," he said
"We are only 200 miles away from the illegally annexed Crimea. We also share over 400 miles of our northern and eastern borders with Ukraine. We therefore perceive the current security threat in a clear manner. Romania has been constantly involved in ensuring Euro-Atlantic security, as a significant contributor to the implementation of NATO's objectives. Your presence here is a testament to NATO solidarity and cohesion, and a strong demonstration of the United States' strong commitment to Romania as its strategic partner," said Iohannis.
He added that Romania is very well defended and has all the security guarantees it needs.
"No Romanian should worry, but we need to know where this security of ours comes from, what the security guarantees are. First of all, our armed forces - which have developed enormously in recent years - are very well prepared. In addition, Romania is a member of the NATO alliance, the strongest military alliance in all of history. In order to come to our aid, we have these soldiers that we greeted today, here at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base, and others who came from strategic partner countries, from our allies, to work together with the Romanian military," said Iohannis.
The chief of state pointed out that ensuring a consolidated deterrence and defence posture in a uniform and coherent manner on the entire Eastern flank, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, contributes to regional stability and also to the security of the NATO as a whole and its citizens.
"Regardless of current developments in the region, NATO must maintain its high capacity for deterrence and defence, which will enable it to effectively fulfill its strictly defensive objectives for which the Alliance was established. In addition to these measures to strengthen the Allied presence, we are advocating the need to continue the political and diplomatic dialogue with Russia in order to find solutions that will allow the situation to be de-escalated, without compromising the fundamental principles of NATO and international law. We start from the clear premise that the current crisis does not stem from possible structural problems of the existing security architecture, but from non-compliance with some of its essential provisions. Romania was and is very diplomatically involved in the NATO and European decision-making process related to the current crisis, given its geographical position and its strategic interest in NATO Eastern Neighborhood and the European Union being stable," said Iohannis.
He reiterated Romania's support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine, and for the right of these countries to build a future based on their own European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
The US Department of Defence announced last week that 1,000 US forces would be repositioned from Germany to Romania. The first components of military equipment of the US battalion that will be called Task Force Cougar, arrived at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base. TF Cougar will be made up mainly of 2nd Squadron / 2nd Cavalry Regiment soldiers, who will use Stryker armoured personnel carriers, and additional troops of other specialties from the regiment's battalions (artillery, engineering, support).
