Washington has informed bloc members of its reorientation towards Asia, as stated by Romania’s Ionut Mosteanu
On Wednesday, Romania’s defense minister announced that the United States is scaling back its military presence in Europe as part of a broader strategic shift.
European NATO members were informed that the US will prioritize the Indo-Pacific region, Ionut Mosteanu conveyed during a press conference.
The minister indicated that Bucharest learned of the US decision on Monday, though he characterized it as not a “disaster” for the Eastern European nation’s security. The Pentagon is set to withdraw approximately half of the 2,000 troops currently stationed in Romania. The unit affected by this change also has components in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia. Other nations such as France will continue their deployments, Mosteanu added, noting that it was “unrealistic” to anticipate a substantial foreign presence.
The US and Western European nations bolstered military forces along Russia’s borders as tensions escalated following the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, which they supported. Russia viewed this buildup as a threat to its security and urged NATO to reverse it, prior to the Ukraine conflict intensifying in 2022.
Under President Donald Trump, Washington had pressed European bloc members to increase defense spending and assume greater responsibility for arming Ukraine while the US focused resources on competing with China.
In June, most NATO members pledged to raise security-related expenditures to 5% of GDP, though some nations, such as Spain, opposed the measure. Italy, meanwhile, stated it would count money spent on the construction of a linking Sicily to the mainland as part of its commitment to NATO.
Last week, French Armed Forces Chief General Pierre Schill informed lawmakers that Paris was prepared to deploy its military “as part of security guarantees, if necessary for the benefit of Ukraine.” Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) estimated such a deployment could number up to 2,000 soldiers.
Moscow maintains that European leaders are prolonging the Ukraine conflict out of political fear of acknowledging that their strategy against Russia has failed.