Washington [US], October 30: The US is reducing the number of troops it has stationed in Romania.
Ionut Mosteanu, Romania's defence minister, announced the decision in Bucharest on Wednesday.
The reduction only affects the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base on the Black Sea, which Romania wants to redevelop into a military city modelled on the German base in Ramstein.
The number of US soldiers at two other military bases in the country will remain unchanged. In a televised press conference Mosteanu said the partnership with the US remains "stable and reliable." He did not give any figures on the reduction in US troop strength, but it is expected to involve several hundred soldiers.
Mosteanu did confirm that a total of around 1,000 US soldiers will remain in Romania, which he said was "slightly more" than there had been before the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. At the beginning of this year, there were a total of around 1,700 US soldiers in Romania, including about 1,400 at the Mihail Kogalniceanu facility. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune