BUCHAREST — NATO chief Mark Rutte on Wednesday played down a U.S. announcement that it was withdrawing hundreds of troops from Romania just as the alliance grapples with an increasing number of suspected Russian hybrid attacks.
Washington had said last week it would redeploy an infantry brigade of around 700 troops back to Kentucky from Romania, as the Pentagon reorients its focus to domestic priorities like border protection and the Indo-Pacific region.
“This happens all the time … please don’t read too much into that,” Rutte told POLITICO at a press conference. “Wherever and whenever needed we can always scale up collectively, including in Romania.”
“In Europe and Romania, the American presence is more powerful than in 2020,” echoed Romanian President Nicușor Dan, speaking from a vast marbled Union Hall in Bucharest’s sprawling Cotroceni Palace. “So there is no concern, no worry.”
The comments come as the alliance faces escalating airspace violations and hybrid attacks. Russian drones have been intercepted and shot down over Poland in recent months while another Russian drone was tracked over Romania; drones of unknown origin have disrupted air traffic at airports in Denmark, Norway and Germany.
In response to the incursions, NATO has agreed to deploy more warplanes and air defense systems to frontline countries in a new program called “Eastern Sentry.”
Rutte suggested the new deployments could also help fill any gap left by U.S. withdrawals. “With this Eastern Sentry, we can bring more capabilities to bear wherever and whenever needed … also in Romania,” he said.
“This military activity not only adds additional assets from allies, it also better connects the range of assets already available all along our eastern flank,” Rutte added.
The alliance is also currently carrying out beefed-up military exercises in Romania, the NATO chief said. Allies are scaling up participating troops “from 1,500 to over 5,000 troops so that we are able, whenever necessary, to immediately get all the troops in Romania needed,” Rutte argued.
The U.S. has around 85,000 troops in Europe including 20,000 that were deployed after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The announced pullback, which would leave around 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Romania, will include forces stationed at Romania’s eastern Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, a key hub for the alliance’s operations on the Black Sea.
NATO allies including Norway and the U.K. on Wednesday also downplayed Washington’s announcement, even as senior Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House cried foul over the move.
But Rutte insisted the alliance was ready to defend Bucharest — whether the troops are rotated out or stay put.
“We can bring more capabilities where needed, but … if this country would be under attack, it is 31 other nations coming to the rescue of Romania,” he said, adding: “This makes us unbeatable — absolutely unbeatable — and that is why I believe that nobody will ever try.”
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