NATO surveillance aircraft in Romania

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NATO has announced that it will be deploying Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance aircraft to Romania to monitor Russian military activities.  

"As Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine continues to threaten peace and security in Europe, there must be no doubt about NATO’s resolve to protect and defend every inch of Allied territory," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a statement on Thursday. 

She added that the deployment of AWACS is essential to European security and a key to enhancing deterrence and defense.

This follows a notable pattern in NATO's strategy of increasing its mobility in eastern Europe and the Black Sea.  

In July 2022, air forces from seven different NATO countries joined their aircraft and ground systems for a training event in Romanian airspace demonstrating interoperability and preparedness.

Later in November, during Secretary Blinken's visit to Romania for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting, Blinken announced that NATO will be reinforcing its eastern flank. 

Read more: Alliance not to stay out of Black Sea for long: NATO navy chief

In December 2021 prior to the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference and tackled issues concerning Russia's domestic and foreign agenda.

Putin demanded the West "immediately" provide Russia with security guarantees amid spiraling tensions involving a massive deployment of Russian troops at the border with Ukraine, at the time. In December, Putin said that the West should be the first to give Russia immediate security guarantees, after decades of breaking its promises to pursue its own security interests in the post-Soviet space.

"You [the Western nations] demand some kind of guarantee from me. It's you who must give us guarantees — immediately, right now — instead of chatting us up for decades… while doing what you planned for," he said, referring to NATO’s eastward expansion.

Read more: NATO conducts coordinated combined drill in Romania