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PM Ciolos: Deveselu facility, not targeted against anyone, exclusively for legitimate defence
At Deveselu on Thursday, Romania's Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said that the ballistic missile defence shield there observes the provisions of the UN Charter and is exclusively for legitimate defence against ballistic missile threats, without being targeted against anyone in particular.
Ciolos told reporters his country did not need to answer Russian criticism for hosting the U.S. site.
“It is legitimate for any country to allocate its resources to defend itself,” he said.
"The facility at Deveselu fully observes the provisions of the UN Charter, and it isn't targeted against anyone in particular; it is a means exclusively for legitimate defence against ballistic missile threats, at the same time strengthening NATO's ballistic missile defence capability and expanding the cover and protection area for the southern and central allied states in Europe, significantly reducing the risk of some possible ballistic attacks from outside the Euro-Atlantic space," the Ciolos said at the inauguration of the Aegis Ashore missile defence system at Deveselu.
Ciolos said this event is a very important moment, "both for Romania and the United States of America, as well as the North Atlantic Alliance and the European security overall," because the security environment continues to be threatened.
"The security environment continues to face challenges, threats and risks in the European and Euro-Atlantic space. In the eastern neighbourhood, we see both the perpetration of frozen conflicts and the emergence of new conflicts, which confirms (...) the strategic importance of the Black Sea region in the equation of Euro-Atlantic security and stability. In the southern proximity, on the grounds of instability from the Middle East and Northern Africa we are witnessing unprecedented widening of uncontrolled migration doubled by terrorist threats and the spread to Europe of security risks related to ISIL-Daesh," said Ciolos.
According to him, the project implements the vision proposed under Romania's National Defence Strategy and "proves once more that Romania is a predictable player and a trustworthy ally."
Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos stated on Thursday that Romania insisted on increasing the NATO presence in the Black Sea and that advanced talks with Bulgaria and Turkey on this matter are in progress.
"It was Romania's initiative and Romania has been very active in building this possibility of a presence [of NATO] in the Black Sea. We are aware that in order for this structure to exist, the implication of other partners in the Black Sea is needed. We are in quite advanced talks with our Bulgarian neighbours and our Turkish friends to build together this NATO presence. Once it is built, we hope to have participation from other allies in these exercises. Our intention is to present this project at the Warsaw NATO Summit, a topic I've already talked with the President and with the Secretary General," Ciolos said in a joint press conference with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
In his turn, Stoltenberg said he talked with President Klaus Iohannis a sufficient presence of NATO both in the Black Sea and on land. NATO's naval presence in the Black Sea has been increased already, as a saftey measure on the eastern flank of the Alliance following the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and Russia's destabilizing behaviour in eastern Ukraine, he explained.
The Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defence system at Deveselu was inaugurated on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who is paying a visit to Romania on the occasion, as well as US Deputy Secretary of Defence Robert Work.