Supreme Defence Council discusses Ukraine crisis

After a meeting of the Supreme Defence Council, president Klaus Iohannis announced Romania's main strategic objectives

Mihai Pelin, 02.03.2022, 14:09

Romania’s
Supreme Defence Council (CSAT) once again convened on Tuesday in the context of
the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Measures have been decided in several
respects. First among these were steps to substantially consolidate the
deterrence and defence posture in the eastern flank in the forthcoming period,
through the deployment of Allied forces and the accelerated set-up of the
battlegroup in Romania.

In
the near future, Romania will host 2,300 US
troops, 500 French, 300 Belgian and 170 Portuguese troops, as well as an
enhanced police unit. Moreover, the number of NATO aircraft in the country is
set to increase.

The CSAT also decided to provide support to
neighbouring Moldova, and to set up a logistics centre to
collect and ship international donations to Ukraine.

Klaus
Iohannis: In the general context created by the regional security situation,
support for the Republic of Moldova is necessary in several respects, because
the country is facing significant refugee inflows and possibly other
difficulties as well. In this respect, the CSAT decided Romania will take a
number of support measures. As for Romania’s contribution to the international
efforts to support Ukraine, we decided to set up a logistics facility, a hub for
centralising and transporting international donations and humanitarian aid to
Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people. We also decided to step up measures to
help the refugees from Ukraine and to manage the massive inflow of people to
Romania.

The
number of Ukrainian nationals coming into Romania is growing by the day. The authorities
say they have ready accommodation, food and clothing for half a million people.
Furthermore, based on an agreement among EU member states, Romania has shipped
fuel, bulletproof vests, helmets, ammunition and military equipment, water,
food and medicines to Ukraine.

In
the same CSAT meeting, the Romanian president said that in the current security
context Romania must take new consolidated measures in at least 2 respects:

Klaus
Iohannis: We need to enhance the defence capacity of the Romanian state. To this
end, we must increase the share of defence expenditure in the GDP from 2% at
present to 2.5%. Secondly, Romania must secure its energy independence, mainly
by developing renewable energy sources and civilian nuclear facilities.

The
president emphasised that for these strategic goals to be achieved, political
decisions must be agreed on and concrete action plans must be implemented by
relevant institutions. (A.M.P.)