Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis and Ukraine’s Volodimir Zelenskyy signed a security agreement on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, DIGI24 reported.
The deal provides for the creation of a national focal point on weapons, and maximum use of Romanian transport and logistics routes in the reconstruction process of Ukraine.
“We join other allies and partners in continuing the commitment we took upon themselves with the Vilnius G7 Declaration”, Klaus Iohannis said. “This agreement is distinguished by specific points of cooperation for strengthening security in the Black Sea region. Romania will support Ukraine in the demining of the Black Sea and will provide support through EU and NATO instruments”, says a press release from Kyiv.
DIGI24 quotes security expert Hari Bucur-Marcu, who notes that Romania becomes the 23rd country to have a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine in a trend that started last year. “Why? Because it is very difficult to reach [global] consensus, given that Russia is still a permanent member of the Security Council and a member of the OSCE”.
On whether this agreement will mean sending troops to Ukraine, the expert stressed that “Ukraine defends its territory with its own forces, but with as much and as solid help as possible from the West, including Romania (…) For the moment, sending troops to Ukraine is ruled out, for multiple reasons”.
However, Hari Bucur-Marcu says the agreement will enable Romania to defend the Ukrainian airspace, for example.
