Today's announcement by the Romanian Ministry of Defense, according to which the United States intends to reduce its military presence on NATO's Eastern flank, including in Romania, has caused numerous reactions and comments in the country, BTA reported.
According to the ministry, the US will keep about 1,000 military personnel on Romanian territory. There are currently about 1,700 American servicemen in the country, according to the latest available data.
Defense Minister Ionut Moșteanu assured that despite the reduction in the number of the American contingent, the US strategic capabilities in Romania will remain intact. In his words, "this is not a withdrawal of American forces, but rather a cancellation of the rotation of a brigade that has elements in several NATO countries, including Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary".
The US Army in Europe said in a statement quoted by Reuters that "the 2nd Infantry Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division will redeploy as scheduled to its base in Kentucky without being replaced".
"This is not a US withdrawal from Europe, nor a signal of a weaker NATO commitment to Article 5", the statement quoted said. It added that “this change in the deployment of forces will not change the security situation in Europe“.
A NATO official said that “such adjustments to the number of US troops in Europe are not unusual” and added that NATO and the United States are in close contact on the overall positioning of forces, so as to ensure that NATO maintains a strong defense and deterrence capability, Reuters reported.
Romanian TV Digi 24 quoted defense expert Gheorghe Scutaru, director of the "New Strategy Center", as saying that the US decision to withdraw hundreds of US troops from Romania weakens security in the Black Sea region and sends the “wrong” signal to Russia, which he said would be “encouraged” to step up its interventions in Romania. He points out that the Romanian authorities must do everything possible to change this American attitude.
"What worries us is not to reach an imbalance between the Baltic zone and the Black Sea zone again. But we must consider this withdrawal in a broader context of negotiations for a peace process in Ukraine. Russia has always shown dissatisfaction with the American military presence near its borders, and the "Mihail Kogalniceanu" air base (in the Black Sea county of Constanta) is the closest base to Sevastopol," he commented.
Scutaru warns that this US decision weakens security in the Black Sea region and calls on the Romanian authorities to take measures.
"There is something else that the Americans are doing with this withdrawal. They are signaling that interest is focused on the Baltic area and it is very possible that we will see greater aggressiveness by the Russian Federation in Romania's exclusive economic zone - by invading the airspace with drones, because they may interpret this withdrawal as a wrong signal - about a lack of American interest in the Black Sea region", he stressed.
According to the expert, there should be a very intense dialogue on the topic in the coming period, and the stakes for a possible meeting between Romanian President Nikusor Dan and his American counterpart Donald Trump are "huge".
The news website Hotnews published an interview with international relations and security expert Ionela Ciolani, who says that Romania should try to negotiate a gradual withdrawal of the US military, but also discuss with other NATO allies the possibility of sending soldiers to the country, including France, which could increase its contingent in Romania, or Germany.
Romania may see the US decision to change the size of its forces in the country as a signal that the time has come to be proactive in its efforts to ensure its security, given that it is located in the most vulnerable area of the Eastern Flank, said Ciola, a researcher at the Brussels-based think tank" Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies".
She believes that in the coming period, Romania could become a target of Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at strengthening anti-American sentiment and discouraging Bucharest's support for Kiev.
"We will certainly become the weak link in the chain in the defense of the Eastern Flank, and to ensure that we do not have such a perception, that the Russians do not have such a perception of us, we will have to work with other allies to help us strengthen this defensive position," she noted.
In her words, the Romanian authorities should use all the levers or American interests in Romania to try to convince the Americans to have a greater interest in this region.
The reduction in the number of American soldiers in Romania is a "shock to the image of national security", but the country still has strong support from foreign military personnel "with over 3,500 soldiers from European countries in NATO multinational structures, who are ready to intervene in any real combat situation", the news site Ziare commented in its article.
The multinational Battle Group in Romania, whose framework country is France, includes soldiers from France, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg, the publication reminds.
"Within the framework of the "Dacian Spring 25" exercise ("Dacian Fall 25"), The Battle Group has been temporarily upgraded to brigade level, so that the French contingent is made up of around 2,400 troops, to which are added around 300 Belgian soldiers, 200 Spanish soldiers and a group from the Luxembourg army", announced NATO's Multinational Divisional Command "Southeast" (HQ MND-SE), located in Romania.
The multinational exercise "Dacian Fall 25", which takes place from 20 October to 13 November 2025, involves over 5,000 troops with 1,200 pieces of equipment from ten Allied countries – Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain, local media reported earlier.
The NATO Battle Group in Romania has been active since 2022 and is one of eight permanent multinational NATO battle groups located in the eastern part of the alliance's territory. The other such groups are in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.
At the same time, the Multinational Brigade "Southeast" In Craiova, which has existed since 2017, there are contingents from Poland with over 200 soldiers, Portugal with about 200 soldiers, as well as a unit from North Macedonia, the publication notes.
Ziare also reminds that in the Enhanced Airspace Protection missions in Romania, military and aircraft from other allied countries participate on a rotational basis.
In August, a contingent of 170 military personnel from Germany arrived in Romania with five Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, which will participate in the mission for eight months. Previously, air forces from Canada, Spain, Finland and others have participated in similar missions.