The newly elected President of Romania Nicusor Dan has voiced his position regarding the participation of the Romanian army in Russiaʼs war against Ukraine.
He spoke about this in an interview with Politico.
The politician was asked if there was a chance of sending the Romanian Armed Forces to Ukraine as part of a possible future peacekeeping mission.
"First, to have a large operational support on the territory of Romania — yes. To be part of the armies that guarantee peace in Ukraine — no. I believe that this would not be very appropriate due to the tension that already exists between Romania and Russia," replied Nicusor Dan.
He is critical of the US President Donald Trumpʼs approach in his attempts to reach an agreement with Putin. Dan is convinced that in the issue of settlement, "everything that concerns Ukraine should be decided and agreed upon by the Ukrainians themselves".
"I am not very optimistic that peace will come in the near future, but at the same time I am glad that the Europeans have decided together to continue supporting Ukraine until it gets the most sensible peace for itself," says the elected leader of Romania.
The second round of the presidential election in Romania took place on May 18. The electoral commission declared the victory of pro-European centrist politician and mayor of Bucharest Nicușor Dan. His opponent, far-right George Simion, conceded defeat.
Peacekeeping troops in Ukraine
After the US and Russia negotiated to end the war in Ukraine without the participation of Europe and Kyiv, an emergency meeting of EU leaders was called in France. One of the key issues was the sending of troops to Ukraine to monitor the ceasefire. This was the main argument of the evening.
French President Emmanuel Macron proposed deploying European peacekeeping forces behind the future demarcation line in Ukraine, rather than directly on it. Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland immediately opposed it. However, Germanyʼs defense minister later said he was open to the idea of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.
In turn, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his country was ready to deploy troops to Ukraine and support the peace agreements "with boots on the ground and planes in the sky".
The Commander-in-Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces Thomas Süssli said he could send troops for a future peacekeeping mission in Ukraine if requested and the government is not against it. Irish Prime Minister Michaël Martin said his country was also ready to send peacekeepers to Ukraine for post-war security. Denmark is also ready for this, as is Australia, as noted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever believes it would be logical for Brussels to send troops to Ukraine. Sweden does not rule out such a possibility, as does the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, the Bulgarian parliament has adopted a declaration that the Bulgarian Armed Forces will not participate in hostilities in Ukraine. And in Romania, they have admitted that they could become a transit center for troops for Western peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, although the parliament does not support this position of interim President Iliye Boloyan.
Bloomberg, citing sources, writes that Turkey could deploy its peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, but will not do so unless it is involved in all consultations and preparations for the formation of the peacekeeping mission.
Volodymyr Zelensky stated at a briefing on March 19 that the US position affects the position of European countries on the issue of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine. If the US joins the process, the number of countries that will be ready to send their contingent to Ukraine may increase. This also affects the quantitative composition of the contingent of a particular country. Discussions are ongoing, so the president did not name the exact number of potential peacekeeping troops.
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