Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said that making its military bases available to NATO allies could be Romania’s contribution to efforts towards a lasting peace in Ukraine.
Asked during an interview with TV broadcaster Antena 1 what the government’s position is regarding the fact that European leaders are asking the United States to send F-35 fighter jets to Romania as part of the security guarantees offered to Ukraine, the head of the Bucharest Executive reiterated our country’s position towards the allies, one aspect being that Romania will not send troops to Ukraine.
„In all these months, as you know, ever since the issue of supporting security guarantees for a lasting peace in Ukraine was raised, Romania was adamant on at least two points: ‘We will not send troops, we will not engage in any potential deployment of troops to the territory of Ukraine’. This was a very clear point. And the second point in the discussions with our allies was that, given Romania’s NATO membership, our military bases, which are anyway operated jointly by Romanian and NATO forces – mainly the air forces, should be available for use by NATO troops, by the troops of the United States of America and by the other allies. Even today, air patrols are being conducted from our airports, air policing is being carried out to monitor what is happening in the Black Sea, joint military exercises are being organized, so this could be, so to say, Romania’s contribution to ensuring support for a lasting peace in Ukraine. Making our military bases available to NATO allies,” declared the prime minister.
The Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday that Romania is a reliable and active ally in defending NATO’s eastern flank and maintains its commitment to multidimensional and sustainable support to Ukraine, in close coordination with NATO and the European Union. The Defense Ministry also stressed that „Romania’s military air infrastructure represents a strong point on the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance for deterrence and defense.”
AGERPRES
