"We are considering long-term adjustment in our posture and that includes establishing battle groups in the southeast of the alliance meaning Romania but also other countries around the Black Sea Region," NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg announced Friday.
He unveiled that the alliance is mulling a more permanent and bigger Black Sea region presence while at a press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. This means that even should the Russians not invade Ukraine, this current crisis will serve as NATO rationale to keep additional forces in Eastern Europe on a more permanent basis.
Great to visit MK air base with President @KlausIohannis as additional #US troops deploy alongside their colleagues from #Italy, #Germany & #Romania. This is transatlantic unity in action at a critical time. The Black Sea region is of vital strategic importance for #NATO. pic.twitter.com/ArSCTxGx9I
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) February 11, 2022
Stoltenberg described further in the Friday briefing: "We have the defense ministerial meeting next week and I expect that ministers will agree to further start the planning and to address the scale and the scope and the details about how to deploy a battle group. And then I expect that the final decision will be taken in the spring."
He described of NATO assets still being moved to the region, which has lately included some 3,000 additional US troops in Poland and Romania, that this "reinforce[ment of] our eastern flank" is necessary as a "defensive" step. Currently, Russia and Belarus are engaged in large joint war games that may involve up to 30,000 Russian troops. US...