Romania asks NATO for 5,000 soldier for ‘long-term deployment’

Romania asked NATO to deploy more of its forces for a longer term, talking about 5,000 soldiers.
Chisinau-Sputnik. Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Tuesday that his country needs NATO to deploy more troops than 5,000 soldiers in the country for a long-term mission.
“We are interested in a long-term presence of NATO allies on the eastern side, in a formula that must be taken into account not only in terms of the number of troops in Romania, but also in terms of many other parameters,” Orescu said.
The foreign minister called for a “firmer presence” at the head of the more than 5,000 Allied soldiers currently stationed in Romania.

NATO began forming a multinational combat group in Romania on May 1, and Bucharest hopes that this process will be completed by the end of the year, depending on the pace of deployment and the countries whose soldiers will form the unit, according to the senior diplomat.
On March 24, NATO leaders agreed to strengthen the alliance’s eastern flank by deploying four new battle groups to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia following the NATO Extraordinary Summit in Brussels on Ukraine.
Even before the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, NATO indicated plans to strengthen its presence in Europe, and its eastern part in particular.

In January, US President Joe Biden said the United States had no plans to withdraw combat troops from Europe, and Washington announced plans to expand its presence in Romania and other countries, in a statement praised by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.