Chief of Defence Staff: Currently, number of NATO military present in our country is over 5,000

The number of NATO military present in our country is over 5,000, Chief of Defence Staff, General Daniel Petrescu, declared on Monday at the changing of the guard ceremony of the Headquarters Multinational Division South - East (HQ MND-SE)

Brigadier General Cristian Dan, commander of HQ MND-SE between June 2020 and June 2022, handed over the command to Brigadier General Dorin Toma, Deputy Chief of Staff, Romanian Land Forces in April 2020, Agerpres reports.

Petrescu said that the existence of HQ MND-SE "is more important than we anticipated in 2014, when the decision was made to create an allied command in Romania".

"The Headquarters Multinational Division South - East has as mission to be able to ensure the command and control of a NATO Article 5 operation, collective defense, contributing to the strengthening of defense on the Alliance's South-Eastern Flank, to ensuring the territorial security and that of the population of the states in the area of responsibility," declared the Minister of Defence, Vasile Dincu, present at the ceremony.

Dincu stressed that "NATO is the alliance that demonstrates the capability, success and commitment of collective defence."

Former HQ MND-SE commander Cristian Dan said that military from 15 countries (including Romania) are active in the division.

The new commander, Dorin Toma, spoke about the prospects of the NATO summit that will take place this month in Madrid.

"The deployment of these multinational structures on the Romanian territory, the contingents of different nations that train together with the Romanian military are also preparing this event, from a military perspective, at the politico-military level," he added.