Romania wants a permanent NATO fleet in the Black Sea and will start making some steps in this direction next month, reports local Stirileprotv.ro.

“Its purpose will be to protect and deter,” said Mihnea Motoc, the Romanian Defense Minister. The possibility of creating such a fleet in the Black Sea might be discussed at the NATO summit, he added.

The NATO fleet is a strategic priority of the Romanian Army and should be operational by fall. This would mean that a fleet of warships will be present in the Black Sea permanently. NATO already has two active fleets.

However, the 1936 Montreux Convention doesn’t allow warships of countries not on the Black Sea to spend more than 21 days there. This would mean that only Romanian, Bulgarian, and Turkish ships might be part of the fleet, or that the other countries would rotate their ships out regularly.

The creation of the NATO fleet in the Black Sea may also cause international turmoil, especially in Russia. This might further damage the NATO-Russian relations, especially after Russia has repeatedly expressed its concerns related to the anti-missile systems in Romania and Poland.

Several American and NATO warships have joined military exercises and patrol missions in the Black Sea in the past two years, after Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Russia says it can destroy NATO’s antimissile defense systems in Romania and Poland.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com