Following stops in Georgia and Ukraine, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin took his Russia-provocation road show to Romania yesterday. Austin will conclude his tour in Brussels, where a two-day NATO Defense Ministerial meeting convened today.
In Romania, the US has built a missile defense installation, deployed Reaper drones, upgraded airbases and other military installations, and has about 1,000 troops present on a rotational basis. “I think our posture in the region continues to present a credible threat against Russia, and it enables NATO forces to operate more effectively should deterrence fail. And I think this is borne out of our commitment to sustaining a rotational U.S. force presence,” Austin told reporters during a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciuca. He otherwise would not comment on the future of the US military presence in Romania, due, he said, to the Biden Administration’s ongoing force posture review.
