US defence shield in Romania

The new Border between West and Russia

The beginning of February brought an important topic into the attention of both Romanian and international press: the presence of US defence shields on the Romanian territory, more precisely, at the Black Sea, where there is already a NATO military base. Already agreed upon, the idea now awaits the Parliament's approval


By ROXANA CIUPARIU (roxana.ciupariu@wavemagazine.net)
from Bucharest, ROMANIA


On the 4th of February 2010, Traian Basescu, the president of Romania, declared that Romania's Supreme Defence Council has agreed to host missile interceptors as part of a new US defence shield at the Black Sea. The whole plan regards providing defence from potential Iran missiles. The president underlined that this move is definitely not directed towards Russia, as the both the Telegraph UK and AlJazeera.net presented his declaration one day after the approval of the plan. "The new system is not against Russia. I want to categorically stress this, Romania [will] not host a system against Russia, but against other threats", said the president.

This idea is not new and Romania is not the first choice: initially, discussions started in 2003, with Poland and the Czech Republic, but this has brought up criticism from Russia, and the discussions were dropped. Romania has now agreed to Obama's version of the plan, stressing that this is a part of the new missile defence system, which assures a better safety for both Romania and its NATO allies; the initial plan would have left Romania and other countries in the area discovered in front of a potential attack.

When the plans were dropped, both the Czechs and the Polish expressed their disagreement about that, which suggested openness towards the plan and NATO policy on the matter. Now, Poland was quick in signing up the new version, which implies a fear of a potential attack. As a response to this kind of fears, as well as future comments regarding its own anti-missiles system, Russia replied that its system works only against missiles' attacks on Russia, and it does not provide any threat to other states, border-close or not.

If the Romanian Parliament votes in favour of the defence shield, as Adevarul.ro, a Romanian newspaper informs the readers, the shield could be active by 2015. Romania is well known for its support for NATO and US policy, which is bigger than in other states, especially former communist ones, which leads to the belief that the Parliament will vote in favour of this plan.

Reactions on the matter

Russia was against the plan. When the idea first came into being, as a prototype under Clinton's running and, afterwards, more concrete, under Bush's administration, the Russians were dissatisfied and threatened both Poland and the Czech Republic with nuclear warheads. The same threat is now feared to be partially directed to Romania, but also to the same two countries, all three of them being viewed as potential targets in case the plans are put into practice.

Russia's belief is that countries which posses such a missile technology should be the only ones allowed to hold this kind of defence system. Also, another point stated by the Russians is that such an idea should be adopted and put into practice in joint venture with them, especially given its closeness to all three states involved in the process. To this kind of reply, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, invited Russia to cooperate closer with NATO on security matters, starting with the defence missile system.

According to Rian.ru, Transdnestr, a region 'de facto' independent from Moldova, could be a host for Russian missiles defence system. Moreover, communists led by former president Vladimir Voronin condemned Moldova's silence on the matter, considering it sells itself to Romania, instead of being neutral or criticising the decision.

Now Romanian media are enforcing the idea that, without doubt, this is not a measure against Russia and should not pose any threat to it. The reaction of the people on the matter as a whole is not known yet, but Romanian officials believe it generally is a favourable one.

The Future

The possibility of abandoning the plans by president Bush was viewed by Russia as a policy of changing the relations between Moscow and Washington. However, the reshaping of the idea by President Obama, in order for the system to adapt to the new type of missiles - such as the ones known to be developed by Iran - was faced by Russia's disapproval.

If the Romanian Parliament votes "yes" on these anti-ballistic interceptors it will define a new border, both in relations NATO and US vs. Russia, as well as in those between Romania and Russia. Furthermore, this plan will make Romania a target, perhaps provoking a scratch on the never-totally-closed wound of the Cold War.



(Published: 10.03.2010.)