NATO to open counterintelligence center in Bucharest

NATO has asked Romania to host a counterintelligence center in Bucharest. The request must be approved by the Parliament after it receives an official request by President Iohannis. According to Hotnews, the creation of the center is a move designed to answer to ‘reported threats‘.

The center will support NATO troops and structures in Romania with information about alleged espionage or sabotage by hostile forces. Although neither NATO nor the Defense Ministry did not say it directly, its purpose is to protect NATO forces against possible hostile actions from Russia.

NATO already hosts two structures in Romania, namely the NATO Force Integration Unit – NFIU, led by Colonel Catalin Ticulescu) and the Headquarters of the Multinational Division (led by General Ovidiu Uifaleanu) – appeared due to the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and the outbreak of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. At the summits in Wales (2014) and Poland (2016), NATO took major decisions to ensure for allies in Eastern Europe more aggressive posture against Russia.

The decision to establish this detachment comes amid intense preparations for deployment in Romania of the largest NATO exercise in the country’s history: 30,000 Allied troops from different countries will come to Romania, as announced in the US ambassador to Bucharest.