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Security Forum in the Black Sea and the Balkans region started în Bucharest
Prime minister Nicolae Ciuca pleaded, on Thursday, at the Security Forum in the Black Sea and Balkans region, for the strengthening of NATO's presence in the area, considering the existing security threats.
"Freedom of overflight and freedom of maritime traffic, freedom of navigation in territorial waters, exclusive economic zones and the free international zone in the Black Sea create a distinct component of security threats that call for the reinforcement of the Alliance's presence. Outside the restricted areas, with months, even years, for firing exercises, dangerous wartime operations, Russia's abuses resulted in the subsequent controlled downing of the American surveillance drone by the Russian fighter trail or a similar and dangerous intervention, but under the name of the qualified direct operation, without using the armament provided, at the Polish plane participating in a European FRONTEX mission, in an aggressive and imprudent, dangerous and discouraging flight of Russian aircraft," the prime minister assessed.
He added that, regarding the threats, the abuse produced by Russia on entire areas of the Black Sea, which does not exclusively target Ukraine, should be noted.
"I raised several times the issue of these prohibition zones in the Black Sea area that limited and sometimes blocked the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. Real or imaginary exercises, the artificial creation of war zones and danger for the movement of commercial vessels, their blocking in ports or their interception, all were the subject of discussions and direct threats to maritime security, which must be properly regulated and included in action plans, but also in projects to preserve freedom of movement, including by accompanying the transports of military patrol vessels, which will safeguard the transit," Ciuca said.
The premier emphasized that the world has changed and everything in terms of security has been rewritten and must be revised in the Black Sea region where a large part of the components of Russia's war of aggression, on a large scale, in Ukraine is consumed.
"We have the clearest elements of the definition of a war of conquest, but also of a neo-colonial war - Russia against Ukraine, which breaks away from the empire, a true war of independence of Ukraine. If all assessments regarding the security situation of Eastern Europe, the threats, risks and vulnerabilities of the region had a conservative post-Cold War approach, with Russia committed and partner, possibly competitor and rival, we saw, on the occasion of February 23, 2022, the transition to a new old paradigm of war on a large scale, of duration, of high intensity as a threat. Thus, on the work plan returns the construction of the defense industry, which must become a war industry, and of small, technological and sophisticated armies of professionals, which must return to mass armies with reserves at the level of the entire society and extensive mobilization capacity to face a large-scale war, a long and high-intensity war, which exhausts the resources not only of the country in conflict, but also of the countries of Europe," the head of the government detailed.
He added that maritime security in the Black Sea is inextricably linked to the security of the drilling platforms in the exclusive economic zones.
The Security Forum in the Black Sea and the Balkans region, now in its 7th edition, is organized on Thursday and Friday by the New Strategy Center think-tank and the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, with the support of NATO's Public Diplomacy Division, in partnership with the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.