NATO battlegroup in Romania

NATO is strengthening its military presence in Romania

Bogdan Matei, 24.05.2022, 13:50

A neighbor of Ukraine, now invaded by Russian troops, and which itself underwent 12 Russian invasions in less than three centuries, Romania is the host of a NATO battlegroup, an additional guarantee of its security. NATO will defend every inch of the territory of the member states and any attack on one of them is an attack on all, NATO leaders have continuously stressed since February 24th, when the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, ordered his army to attack Ukraine.

Since 2014, when Moscow illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea (south) and fueled the secessionist rebellion in Donbass (east), NATO had set up its first such battlegroups in four countries on the Northeast Flank: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. These structures – also known as the NATOs “enhanced forward presence” – became fully operational in 2017, and currently account for almost 5,000 troops from Europe, the United States and Canada, who rotate every six months.

Now, after Russia has relapsed into warlike and expansionist habits, the Allies have decided to also deploy such battlegroups in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. The main mission of these groups, made up of soldiers who have been in conflict zones before, is to deter any possible aggressor. “These battle groups (…) are robust and combat-ready forces. They demonstrate the strength of the transatlantic bond. (…). These forces form part of the biggest reinforcement of NATOs collective defence in a generation”, NATO said.

The group in Romania, which has France as a framework nation, is being set up, as of this month, by transforming the allied multinational elements within the NATO Response Force, deployed here, the Romanian Defense Ministry has also announced. The French battalion deployed in Romania, seen as the spearhead of NATOs highest readiness force, will form the battlegroup, integrating, on a rotational basis, solders from Belgium and the Netherlands.

The French armed forces have been present in Romania since February 26, 2022. France is in command of the alert battalion of NATOs Response Force deployed as a matter of urgency after Russias attack on Ukraine. A Belgian infantry company is already part of this battalion. France will also deploy an air defense detachment in Romania at the National Training Center for Air Defense in Capu Midia (southeast).All these additional units, foreign policy analysts say, are the allies response to Russias claims to return to the pre-1997 strategic situation, when the former Soviet satellite states, forcibly after the last world war, chose after the fall of their dictatorships to join the free world defended by NATO. (MI)