The Department of Defense announced this on Wednesday. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO has wanted to better defend the borders in Eastern Europe. That is why new combat units will be created in Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. The Netherlands contribute two hundred men to the unit located in Cinque, central Romania. They leave this summer and stay there for a year.
It is an air unit that will become part of a French-led combat unit of about nine hundred soldiers. In addition, the Netherlands is likely to send 85 soldiers next month to help build the military camp at Senko. This is expected to take six months.
And the Council of Ministers announced earlier that it was considering participation in Romania. Defense Minister Olungren (Defence) and Hoekstra (Foreign Affairs) have now made the decision. The cost of the mission is 34 million euros. The Netherlands is also currently participating in the NATO mission in Lithuania. About 250 soldiers are stationed there.
The first Dutch soldiers had already visited the area in Romania on a reconnaissance mission. This dealt with “domestic conditions, agreements and division of tasks with France and Romania,” the Defense Ministry said.
