Romanian President Klaus Iohannis welcomed on Wednesday, Feb. 2, the U.S. decision to send 1,000 troops to Romania in the context of increasing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
According to Romania’s president, this announcement embodies the decision already made public by President Joe Biden in January 2022.
“This significant contribution is an unequivocal demonstration of the solidarity of the United States, as an ally and the main strategic partner of Romania, in the context of efforts to strengthen the deterrence and defense of NATO’s Eastern Flank, including Romania, in response to current worrying security developments,” a statement by the president said.
Iohannis emphasized that the decision was of particular significance for Euro-Atlantic security as a whole, of which the security of the Black Sea region was an integral part.
“The deployment of the United States in Romania during this month also demonstrates the firm commitment of the USA in favor of deepening the transatlantic partnership. This decision also comes as a result of the constant efforts and the active and consistent positioning of our country, including at the highest level, within the North Atlantic Alliance, as well as in the direct relationship with the United States, in the sense of consolidation, in a unified and coherent way, of the entire eastern flank, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The U.S. decision proves the solidity of Romania’s strategic partnership with the United States and is in line with NATO’s decision, as a whole, to take all necessary actions to increase the defense of allies and increase security on the Black Sea,” the statement said.
Iohannis also expressed the hope that this decision will have an important role in discouraging any negative security developments in the region, in the current security context, that it will be followed by other steps in the same direction in an allied context, such as and that diplomatic dialogue will continue and that viable solutions to the current security situation will be identified.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed on Wednesday in an online press conference the deployment of about 3,000 US troops in NATO’s eastern flank countries, of which about 1,000 will be repositioned in the coming days from a base in Germany to Romania.
