No country is more important to NATO’s eastern flank than Romania. As a frontline state bordering Ukraine, Moldova, and the Black Sea, Romania holds enduring strategic significance for regional security—an importance that has only grown since Russia’s re-invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
As Saratoga President Glen Howard and board member Philip Breedlove argued in our recent National Interest article Romania’s Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base is the backbone of NATO airpower in the East having risen to become one of the Alliance’s most important air installations east of Ramstein, serving as a critical hub for projecting U.S. airpower into the Balkans and the Black Sea region. The Russian threat to Romania remains persistent, evidenced by repeated Russian drone intrusions into Romanian airspace and Moscow’s August attack on a Ukrainian intelligence vessel in Romanian territorial waters inside the Danube. Despite the recent US drawdown in forces in Romania, NATO’s commitment remains strong, demonstrated most recently by the recent Dacian Fall 2025 exercises, which brought together more than 5,000 soldiers from ten allied nations to test NATO’s operational agility on the eastern flank.
Joining us to examine Romania’s enduring military importance to the NATO alliance, assess how recent shifts are reshaping NATO’s defense posture in the east, and explore key lessons from the war in Ukraine—from both Romanian and U.S. perspectives—are Romanian Lt. General Iulian Berdila, Romania’s Deputy Chief of Defense for Operations and Planning; former SACEUR General Philip Breedlove; and George Scutaru, Chairman of Romania’s leading defense think tank, the New Strategy Center in Bucharest.
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