Deveselu

The works at the Deveselu missile defence base are advancing as planned; the military facility will be operational this autumn, Defence Minister Mircea Dusa said on Tuesday during a visit to the Olt County.

Photo credit: (c) Alex MICSIK / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The National Defence minister, Mircea Dusa is going to visit on Tuesday the Fetesti 86 Airbase in order to assess the stage of the rehabilitation and modernization works of the aircrafts' runways, a press release by the relevant ministry informs.

Photo credit: (c) Simion MECHNO / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The missile defence base of Deveselu will operate under the authority of the Allied Joint Force Command (JFC) Naples, Defence Minister Mircea Dusa announced on Tuesday. The base's objectives will become operational by the end of this year, he mentioned.

The multinational exercise Wind Spring 15, involving troops from Romania, the United States, Britain and Moldova, began on Thursday at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base near the Black Sea port of Constanta and the at the Smardan Polygon in Galati.

Romania's Foreign Minister Bogdn Aurescu on Wednesday welcomed Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Phillip M. Breedlove, on which occasion he underscored the strictly defensive nature of the Deveselu missile defence shield as well as the unacceptable character of threats against Romania's allies over this issue, Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) reports in a press release.

Topics referring to the security situation in Ukraine, to the bilateral cooperation within the anti-missile shield of Deveselu, as well as Romania's commitment in the Afghani theater of operations were discussed on Friday during a meeting between the Minister of National Defence, Mircea Dusa, and a delegation of the US Congress.

Photo credit: (c) Alex MICSIK / AGERPRES PHOTO

"The anti-missile system is only for self-defence, as defined by the UN charter, and has nothing to do with Russia," Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Saturday.

Aurescu was commenting after Russia's ambassador to Denmark, Mikhail Vanin, warned the Scandinavian country not to join the NATO missile defence system.

Four Portuguese F-16 fighter jets and 150 Portuguese troops and civilians belonging to NATO Air Police will come to Romania to take part in an aerial policing mission, Romania's Supreme Defence Council, CSAT, announced on Tuesday.

CSAT approved a request from Prime Minister Victor Ponta to allow the planes and troops into Romania during May and June 2015.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, on Saturday, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on international security policy, had a meeting with Ellen Tauscher, Vice President of the Brent Scowcroft Center for International Security, also a member in the Executive Committee of the Atlantic Council of the United States and chief negotiator for the Agreement between Romania and t

Leaders of all parliamentary parties on Tuesday are to sign a political agreement ensuing that at least 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, GDP, will go on the defence budget by 2017.

The move follows the initiative of Romania's new President, Klaus Iohan, who has set increased defence spending as a priority.