NATO is preparing to temporarily station a brigade in Romania
Before the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) summit in Washington (July 9 - 11), the High Military Representative of France in Romania, Brigadier General Loïc Girard, said that Romania is entitled to ask the Western allies to send more troops and equipment to its territory.
In an interview with the Romania Free Europe, General Girard said; "An important purpose of my mission here is to prepare for the deployment of an entire brigade next year. The brigade will be deployed temporarily, for perhaps a month. What does a brigade mean? 4,000 soldiers and about a thousand vehicles."
The leaders of the 32 NATO member states will decide at next week's summit what additional measures will be taken to strengthen the eastern flank, in the face of Russian aggression.
The battle group in Romania was created in 2022, immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine, on February 24, states Romania Free Europe.
France then assumed the role of the leading NATO state in Romania, and on February 28, 2022, it sent its first soldiers, relocated from Africa.
Since then, France has increased the number of soldiers sent to Romania to almost 1,500. They all came together with combat vehicles, tanks and anti-aircraft defense systems, and they were joined, over two years, by soldiers from other NATO countries: Luxembourg, Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands.
