The United States is significantly reducing its military presence in Romania, in what the US Army called an “adjustment to US force posture,” amid Moscow’s war against neighboring Ukraine and heightened European concern about Russian incursions into NATO airspace.
The Romanian Defense Ministry announced what it called the “resizing” of the US force on October 29, saying it had learned of the plans two days previously.
Romanian Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu told a news conference in Bucharest that 1,000 US troops had left the country and that a similar number would remain at three US bases in Romania.
“There is no disaster, it is a decision by our allies. They remain in the three [locations]," he said, adding that the troops who had departed had merely been on rotation in Romania.
'Not An American Withdrawal'
The US Army issued a statement saying "this is not an American withdrawal from Europe or a signal of lessened commitment to NATO and Article 5," which states that an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all members.
"Rather this is a positive sign of increased European capability and responsibility. Our NATO allies are meeting President Trump's call to take primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe."
Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, wrote on social media that "the United States remains committed to Romania—as a trusted NATO Ally, a vital strategic partner, and a driving force for security in Europe."
US troop reductions in Europe have been expected for several months, since it was announced the Pentagon would conduct a Global Force Posture Review.
NATO officials who spoke to RFE/RL played down the security impacts of the announcement.
“Adjustments to US force posture are not unusual. Even with this adjustment, the US force posture in Europe remains larger than it has been for many years, with many more US forces on the continent than before 2022,” said one official, referring to the year Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The US authorities informed NATO of this adjustment in advance. The US commitment to NATO is clear. President Trump and his administration have reiterated this time and again,” the official added.
Many analysts have predicted the Pentagon review, expected to be published this fall, will lay out a shift in military resources from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region.
“Some NATO officials believe a US troops reduction of up to 30 percent could be possible,” a report published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) last month said.
There has been no official announcement of the US reducing its military deployments elsewhere in Europe, but the move to cut troops in Romania comes amid heightened anxiety about the US commitment to NATO.
'Not Good News'
“This is not good news, particularly at a time of high tension in the European security situation,” Jamie Shea, a former senior NATO official now at the Chatham House think tank in London, told RFE/RL.
“It would be better if the Pentagon could give an overall view of its future force posture in Europe for all of NATO territory and not drip country-by-country announcements one by one. There will be questions from the allies,” he said.
But Shea also underlined that the decision does not mean that NATO was leaving Romania’s security exposed.
“The US is not the NATO lead nation in Romania as France leads the NATO multinational battalion and the defense is spearheaded by the Europeans, unlike Poland where the US is in the lead.”
Poland's Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters on October 29 that his country had "not received any information...about a reduction in the contingent in Poland."
On October 15, he said his US counterpart Pete Hegseth had confirmed that the US military presence in Poland would remain stable.
US President Donald Trump has strongly criticized European countries he says have relied on US firepower while not spending enough on defense.
Washington-based think-tank Defense Priorities wrote in July that “the current military posture in Europe is too large, encouraging free-riding by European allies and preventing them from taking more responsibility for their own security. US troop levels should be reduced to approximately where they were before Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine.”
Since then, tensions on NATO’s eastern flank have grown following a series of Russian military incursions into member states’ airspace.
This has included a mass drone incursion into Poland on September 10, Russian military jets entering Estonian airspace days later, and Russian drones over Romania.
Romanian officials have described the drone incidents as a “new challenge” in the Black Sea region.
In response to the incursions, NATO launched a new operation, Eastern Sentry, with a number of western European nations sending fighter jets to boost security and plug gaps from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
Former NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana, who was previously a Romanian legislator, wrote on Facebook that “in Europe, the American military presence will be reduced, but not drastically. This new arrangement comes after a successful NATO Summit held at The Hague and will not jeopardize the execution of NATO’s defense and deterrence plans.”
Responding to the announced US troop departures, Romanian President Nicusor Dan also sought to offer reassurance.
"The security of Romania and the eastern flank will not be diminished in any way," he wrote on social media, adding that "the strategic partnership between Romania and the US remains within the same parameters."
