By Lindsay Potter
NATO will build its biggest European base in Romania, next to Ukraine, thumbing its nose at Russia’s repeated warnings against NATO’s eastward expansion and the primary role NATO’s provocations played in Russia’s explanations for its ongoing military invasion of Ukraine. Euronews.com reports the base will be “the size of a small town.” The base will be close to the Black Sea, by the city of Constanta and 130km from the border with Ukraine. The project will build on the Mihail Kogalniceanu Romanian Air Force 57th Air Base and will plan to host 10,000 NATO soldiers and their families. Once complete, it should occupy 7,416 acres with a perimeter of 19 miles. All told, the build-out will cost Bucharest $2.7 billion. Currently, 5,000 NATO soldiers, mostly U.S., are based there.
Russian Senator Andrei Klimov said the base represents a “threat to Bucharest.” He adds, “The NATO suicide club drags ordinary civilians into such adventures. There won’t be any benefit for Romania from this … [the] closer it is to Russia’s borders, the more likely it is to be among the first targets for retaliatory strikes.”
— Defense Post, March 21; Kyiv Post, March 18, 2024
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