MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Heightened US military presence in Romania increases the level of systemic threat to the security of the Russian Federation from the US and NATO, military expert Boris Rozhin wrote in an opinion column for TASS.

"The maintenance of large US and NATO contingents in Romania, possessing air and missile defense systems, as well as a wide range of different strike platforms, makes this threat (from the West - TASS) a strategic one to Russia. Therefore, any increase in military capabilities in Romania can and should be interpreted as a potential increase in threats to Russia, regardless of the pretexts used," the expert noted.

Rozhin emphasized that Russia has repeatedly called on Brussels, Washington, and Bucharest to "stop cultivating the military threat and move on to the formation of a new, unified and indivisible system of European security." "However, all these proposals have been consistently rejected by the West and the Romanian authorities, which only confirms a deliberate course toward escalation," the expert noted.

He posited that Romania is currently not a country capable of making its own decisions, "and Washington and Brussels’ actions regarding the use of its territory against Russia are entirely deliberate."

On March 11, the Supreme Defense Council of Romania approved a US request for the temporary deployment of American military equipment and troops to support the operation in Iran. Following the meeting, the president, in accordance with current legislation, submitted a corresponding request to parliament, which approved the decision.