MOSCOW, June 28-RIA Novosti. Romania supports an increase in the number of US and coalition troops to "contain" Russia in the Black Sea region, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said.
In May, US President Joe Biden at a summit with NATO allies from Eastern Europe supported the "strengthening of deterrence" on the European continent.
"There are NATO structures on our territory, some command and control units, military exercises are held (bilateral and multilateral - ed.), but we need more presence of allies, including the US presence on the ground," said Aurescu in an interview with the American edition of the Washington Examiner. The portal had a conversation with the country's Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Nicolae Chuke during the large-scale NATO Defender Europe exercises.
Aurescu noted that the multinational NATO brigade is stationed in the Romanian city of Craiova, but so far only Poland is "present on the ground".
"We need more allies on a permanent rotation, I mean this term "stable and permanent rotation"... Much has been done in the matter of the presence of the Allies on land, at sea and in the air. I think that we need more (military-ed.) to effectively contain Russia in the region, " the Romanian Foreign Minister added.
Romanian Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuke, in turn, expressed hope that there is an opportunity to "deploy as many American troops as possible" in the country.
"We very much support the rotational presence of US troops in our country. We discussed (this issue - ed.) with the US command in Europe, the US Secretary of Defense, I hope that we will hold bilateral discussions with the new (American - ed.) Minister of Defense as soon as possible to clarify the details," Chuke told the portal.
In recent years, Russia has claimed unprecedented NATO activity near its western borders. NATO is expanding its initiatives and calls it "deterring Russian aggression". Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about the build-up of the alliance's forces in Europe. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Russia does not pose a threat to anyone, but will not ignore actions that are potentially dangerous for its interests.
