Romanian Navy Commander Mirsu opens Poseidon 19 NATO multinational exercise

Romania's Chief of Staff of Navy Staff (SMFN) Alexandru Mirsu said in Constanta Port on Friday that besides enhancing interoperability, Poseidon 19 demonstrates that Black Sea navigation is free, safe and open to commercial routes in accordance with international regulations. "Today, we are opening the Poseidon 19 NATO multinational exercise, planned and notified, included in the schedule of the Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) to increase interoperability among the navies of the NATO member states and partner countries under the Partnership for Peace (PfP). On this occasion, I would like to voice my appreciation to the allies and MARCOM for mobilising in this part of the world the forces needed to demonstrate the cohesion of the alliance and to convey the message that our goal is to conduct exercises that are not provocative. The Black Sea as well as other international navigation routes are safe and open, with free navigation under the command of international law and regulations. The specifics of the exercise are naval mine combat, and the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group is also present. It is a complex exercise in which we will carry out activities in all fields, land, air and sea and with the participation of the components of other armed forces, air and land, and the agencies involved in the public defence and national security system, including the Coast Guard and the General Emergency Inspectorate (IGSU) of the Interior Ministry (MAI). So we have a comprehensive approach, interagency, of this exercise. Our activities are routine navy practice and in no way can they be considered provocative," said Mirsu. According to organisers, taking part in the multinational Poseidon 19 exercise organised by the Romanian Naval Forces (FNR), March 1-8 in Constanta Port and in the districts of the Romanian territorial waters and the international waters of the western Black Sea basin are over 1,300 Romanian and foreign troops representing five other nations (Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Croatia, Germany, Greece), 16 warships and five pieces of aircraft (one Puma Naval helicopter, two MiG 21 LanceRs and two F-16s of the Romanian Air Force ). The main objectives of the exercise are to strengthen interoperability between ships and crews participating in a multinational context as well as to certify the FNR combat units provided to NATO in the coming period, with the warships scheduled to leave the Constanta Port on Monday for exercises at sea. "The illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation in 2014, the frozen conflicts in Transnistria and Georgia, the tense situation in eastern Ukraine and the Azov Sea area are generating instability in the eastern neighbourhood of the European Union and NATO; one of the assurance measures for the NATO allies in the Black Sea region is strengthening the navy presence in the sea basin," reads a press statement released by SMFN. AGERPRES (RO - author: Dan Mihaescu, editor: Karina Olteanu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)