The city of Nagysinken in Brasov province will be the focus of the NATO combat group in Romania which has a French headquarters of around 1,000 soldiers, Col Vincent Mingot, commander of NATO’s forward presence in Romania, told Agerpress on Tuesday.
Speaking at the French embassy in Bucharest, the colonel explained that a significant part of the battalion is still stationed at the Kogalniceanu air base on the Black Sea coast, but that French and Belgian soldiers will soon join the Dutch soldiers. Better conditions of practice.
Mingot said the French soldiers are working with Romanian mountain hunting units in Brasov and Mercuria Ciuc, with American units stationed in Romania to perform protection and deterrence tasks, and their presence is a message for the Russian army. He added that they currently have light armor, but heavy weapons will arrive later as soon as they can prepare for their maintenance.
I think we will stay here for 4-5 years, building a strong battalion with strong weapons to prevent any aggression or destabilization against Romania.
The Agripress news agency quoted the French military commander as saying.
Mingot arrived in Romania in early March with five hundred soldiers from the French Annecy’s 27th Hunting Battalion when NATO activated the Reaction Force (Multinational Rapid Reaction Force) following a Russian attack on Ukraine and also sent troops into Romania.
The Romanian Defense Ministry said earlier that NATO intends to strengthen the protection of Romania’s eastern flank with five hundred French, three hundred Belgian and two hundred Dutch soldiers, by forming a new permanent combat group under French command. (MTI)
