The US will reduce the number of troops on NATOʼs eastern flank. Where exactly?

The Romanian Ministry of Defense has announced that the United States plans to withdraw some of its troops deployed on NATOʼs eastern flank. In Romania, their number will decrease from 1 700 troops to 900-1 000.

The BBC writes about this.

The Romanian Defense Ministry said the decision was expected and that the “change in the size” of the US Armed Forces was a result of the new priorities of the Trump administration. The Pentagon said the decision was not “an exit from Europe or a signal of a reduction in commitments to NATO and Article 5”.

Romanian Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu said that his American counterpart Pete Hegseth recently told Europeans that they need to pay more attention to their own defense, while the United States is shifting its focus to the Indo-Pacific region.

One American brigade at Mihai Kogelniceanu Air Base, which is set to become NATO’s largest base in Europe, will be withdrawn and will not be replaced. Mosteanu said the brigade has units in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, although it is unclear whether the Americans will withdraw their troops from those countries. The presence of American troops at the Romanian bases of Deveselu and Campia Turzii will not change.

Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on October 29 that Warsaw "has no information" about a possible reduction in the number of American troops on its territory.

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