Romanian and British Defense Ministers meeting in Bucharest

Romanian Minister of Defense, Mihai Fifor - during talks in Bucharest with his British counterpart, Gavin Williamson - has called for support in the process of operationalizing the NATO Army Command that Romania announced it wishes to host, at the recent NATO summit. By the end of this year, the legal framework of military cooperation between the UK and Romania, which is currently based on an agreement signed 22 years ago, is to be updated and correlated to the current international developments in security and defense.

Security in the Black Sea region has been one of the main topics of the talks.

Minister of National Defense Mihai Fifor: "I have mentioned the political and military aggression of the Russian Federation and its intention to militarize the Black Sea by increasing the military forces in the region and by deploying new capabilities with predominantly offensive potential in all categories of armed forces". Russian efforts focus on tactics and hybrid actions, in order to undermine the internal stability of both the ex-Soviet states and the allied states in the neighborhood, fueling the so-called frozen conflicts".

In turn, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said his country would provide military support to the NATO Brigade in Craiova and assured that Britain would continue to contribute to the strengthening of European security even after Brexit:

"The role of Great Britain in supporting Romania has increased and will continue to grow more. Last year, I commanded the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) in collaboration with Romania in this intervention exercise as well as in the Noble Jump Military Application. Ships of the Royal Navy have constantly stopped at Constanţa Harbor in February this year and visits will be repeated in May next year. This summer, British Typhoon aircraft returned to support the Romanian Air Police. Just last week, these planes intercepted a Russian bomber that entered NATO's airspace.

Britain leaves the European Union. But there is no doubt about our determination to support the security of the continent and of NATO, as we have done so far. For centuries, we have been involved and concerned about continental security, long before the creation of the European Union. We will continue to be concerned about the continent's security after we leave the European Union".

After press statements of both the Romanian and the British Ministers of Defense, Minister Fifor expressed will to clarify some things in reference to Deveselu Base, part of NATO's anti-missile defense system:

"I want to emphasize something as clear and firm as possible: Romania, and I point out, Romania at the Deveselu Base, does not have ballistic missiles, and I think it's time to end speculations because these are not things that should be drawn to the area of political dialogue".

After talks at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense, Fifor and Williamson had scheduled visits at the Mihail Kogălniceanu Base near Constanţa Harbor, to meet the pilots and technical personnel serving the four British Air Force Typhoons and the Romanian military personnel.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei