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NATO Deputy SecGen Geoana: NATO battle group in Romania, in initial phase of operationalization of capabilities
NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said on Friday that the NATO battle group to be deployed on Romania's territory is already in the initial phase of the operationalization of capabilities, noting that the final decisions will be made at the Summit in Madrid next week on the defense and deterrence posture on the eastern flank, which will be much more robust, more sustainable and integrated than at present.
"The first of the four battle groups that we will set up in this part of Europe, the one in Romania, is already in the initial phase of operationalization of capabilities. The other three in Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia will do the same in the following weeks," Geoana said after attending a conference.
"Romania will probably have the first battle group of the four set up, and our leaders will discuss next week, and they will make the final decisions in Madrid on the defense and deterrence posture on the eastern flank, which will be much more robust than today, which will be more long-lasting than today and which will be more sustainable and integrated than what we have today," Geoana added.
Asked how many soldiers will arrive in Romania, Mircea Geoana said that the participation list is open.
"In addition to the NATO forces, that came as a measure of enhanced vigilance - and here we saw 1,000 US soldiers coming, the first contingents of the NATO Rapid Reaction Corps led by France, with 550 French, 300 Belgians - the battle group to be established in Romania, and which has already started operating under France's command and with Romania's help, of course, as a host country, will have a number of other allies, who have already announced their intention to participate and this list is open," said the NATO Deputy Secretary-General.
According to Geoana, the Romanian authorities will persuade as many allies as possible to be part of this battle group.
"There are countries in the region that want to be part of this working group, other allies in Europe, the essence of these groups from the Baltic area is precisely this multinational character. The more nations, the better. (...) I give the example of the Baltic area, where there are four battle groups, there are about 5,000 NATO military, but there are 20 allied nations that contribute to those battle groups, which makes the element of collective defense and collective deterrence very strong. (...) I anticipate that this fully operational capability will happen in the near future," the NATO official said.
As for the no fly zone, Geoana mentioned that “we need to be careful about how we do it”.
“Because a no-fly zone means, in fact, that it has to be implemented and secured by NATO. Which means we have to shoot down Russian planes, bomb Russian or Belarusian airports, is, in fact, a direct act of war with the Russian Federation.
This does not mean that there are no other methods, including modern weapons systems to provide air defense. Missile defense systems, anti-tank systems and many other state-of-the-art devices that you have noticed that President Biden has recently decided in a way, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of Canada, including countries neighboring Ukraine.That is why we understand a lot of the emotion, we understand the drama of the situation that Ukraine is going through, but at the same time, helping the Ukrainians, who are doing an admirable job,” Geoana said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had also stated a day ago that NATO understands the frustration and desperation of the political leadership and people of Ukraine “over the barbaric actions of the Russian army against the civilian population and is responding to this situation by increasing military aid to Ukraine”, but the war must not cross Ukraine’s borders. Stoltenberg argued that it is mandatory that the Alliance makes sure that “this conflict doesn’t get out of control and does not cross Ukraine’s borders”.