NATO continues to beef up its eastern flank

The first armoured vehicles destined for the NATO Battle Group have arrived in Romania

Ştefan Stoica, 24.10.2022, 14:00

Two French military convoys entered
Romania on Sunday night consisting of light and heavy armoured vehicles to beef
up the NATO Battle Group deployed to Cincu, in central Romania, where a 750 strong
French contingent has been deployed. Colonel Alexandre de Féligonde, the new
commander of the French battalion has told the Romanian public radio that the latest
military beef-up takes place against the escalation of the conflict Russia initiated
8 months ago.

Colonel de Feligonde said that at the
beginning of the conflict light infantry was deployed, but later France and
NATO opted for a different posture in this part of Europe, and a heavy armoured
battalion has been deployed here. We are going to move from light to
heavy-armoured vehicles. We are here for a joint training with Romanian and
Dutch troops, part of the French battalion which will be training in Cincu and in
other parts of Romania as well.

Romanian colonel Tiberiu Cojocaru
with the Headquarters Multinational Division South-East has welcomed the convoy
and explained that the first convoy was part of the third rotation of the NATO
battle group deployed to Romania, to the joint training camp here. We are
looking forward to seeing the joint training of French and Romanian troops, in
Cincu and in other places to strengthen the allied cohesion and ensure the
security of the territories of all NATO member countries.

The NATO Battle Group was set up in
May by transforming the multinational allied elements of the NATO Response
force deployed to Romania. Upon the French proposal to take over the role of the
Framework Nation, the French battalion deployed to Romania, considered the
spearhead of the high-readiness NATO Response Force, is actually forging this
group through the rotational integration of troops from Belgium and the
Netherlands.

Spain will also be contributing to
the consolidation of NATO’s eastern flank against the background of the war in
Ukraine. Madrid announced the deployment of F-18 and Eurofighter jets to
Romania and Bulgaria. The planes are to land in Fetesti, southern Romania and until
March next year they will be doing patrolling missions in the region.

This is Spain’s response
to the allies’ request for an increased contribution to NATO’s response and preemptive
capabilities, the Spanish Defence Ministry has announced. Spain has already
installed a long-range radar in Dobrogea, south-eastern Romania.

(bill)