NATO ready to defend Romania, NATO chief says

NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg recently stated that Romania is a valuable part of the Alliance and that NATO is ready to defend the country if necessary.

A coalition of troops from France, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the US has been stationed in NATO’s eastern flank, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, in the past months. The NATO secretary general said that this sends a clear message that “NATO is ready to defend Romania and all other Allies.”

The statement was made during a visit from Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciucă to the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Stoltenberg also doubled down on NATO’s support for Ukraine’s right to self-defense “for as long as it takes.” He said that Russia’s war on Ukraine turned the Black Sea into a warzone, implying the increased strategic importance of Romania.

The secretary general also expressed the alliances’ thanks to Romania for its contributions to the members’ shared security and the 2% of GDP that Romania dedicated to defense spending. “You are setting an example when it comes to defense spending,” Stoltenberg told Ciucă.

Multiple NATO units from the US, Spain, and France are currently stationed in Romania, together forming a battle group. The latter contributes to increasing Romania's military cooperation with France and, implicitly, to strengthening the security of the Euro-Atlantic space on the eastern flank. Romania is also a key site for NATO’s ballistic missile defense system.

(Photo source: palinchak | Dreamstime)