After decades as a servant of Moscow, Romania has become a threat to Russia

BrasovCountry

January 11, 2023

Military expert: Our country has assumed, within NATO, this role. After the United States, Great Britain, the most engaged in helping Ukraine, come the two countries on the northern and southern transport corridors, i.e. Poland and Romania.

The Pro Optica company made the rounds for dozens of Turkish armored vehicles, which were transferred to Ukraine, by rail, through Bacău, at the beginning of the year.

This summer Ukraine went through a major ammunition crisis. Romania was actively involved in solving it.

Wall Street Journal: Efforts afoot to expand ammunition production across Europe. Germany will co-finance the renovation and expansion of a Soviet-era factory in Romania.

The planned discretion of Romanian officials regarding the military support given to Ukraine was undermined, on the one hand, by the Russians, angry that our country is so involved, but also by Kyiv, which announced that Romania had received the necessary arms orders of Ukraine for the year 2023.

On January 6, a shipment of dozens of Turkish-made Kirpi armored vehicles, mounted on the platforms of a freight train and covered with camouflage tarps, was spotted passing through Bacau railway station.

The shipment is part of a new wave of arms deliveries to Ukraine for the spring offensive.

Since November last year, more and more evidence and testimony has emerged about our country’s consistent participation in allied support to Ukraine to repel Russian forces across the border.

Despite the fact that the representatives of the Government and the president do not make any reference to the military aid given by our country, it seems to be an important one, as long as it caught the Russian officials off guard.

“Romania assumed, within NATO, this role. After the United States, Great Britain, the most engaged in helping Ukraine, come the two countries on the northern and southern transport corridors, i.e. Poland and Romania. Ukraine breathes through these colors like two lungs, which keep it alive. Discretion is very good on our part, but the Russians know and that’s why they are reacting,” said reserve commander Sandu Valentin Mateiu, exclusively for Spotmedia.ro.

Multidimensional support

The statement of Valeri Gherasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian army, who nominated Romania, in a meeting with accredited military attachés in Moscow, as the fourth country in terms of military aid offered to Ukraine, after the USA, Great Britain and Poland, it did not go unnoticed in Bucharest, especially since this reference contradicted the discretion assiduously cultivated by our officials.

Klaus Iohannis refers to the aid given to Ukraine as “consistent and multidimensional support”, which could mean anything, including ammunition and weapons.

On January 7, on the “Ukraine Weapons Tracker” Twitter account, in translation “Monitoring of Ukrainian Weapons”, a day after the filming in the Bacău train station, a clip is posted in which the same armored vehicles are presented, this time in column , on the road, somewhere in Turkey, specifying that they were equipped with sighting systems made by the Romanian company Pro Optica ANUBIS.

And indeed, the turret of the Kirpi armor in the video looks the same as the ANUBIS turret, produced by Pro Optica, shown on the company’s website.

“Our officials are doing very well not to talk about the military aid given to Ukraine. Discussions are useless and will die out on their own. It is important that at the moment we have the fourth role, even Moscow gave us, regarding the support of Kiev, in a joint NATO mission. Another aspect, related to the transfer of ammunition, it is not a secret that Ukraine, at one point, had a big problem this summer”, said reserve commander Sandu Valentin Mateiu, for Spotmedia.ro.

There are indications that Romania fully participated in solving the ammunition crisis in Ukraine.

Soviet projects for Ukraine

In an article published by the American daily Wall Street Journal on December 22, 2022, it is announced that Germany must invest around 20 billion euros to reach NATO standards of ammunition needed for 30 days of conflict.

“Efforts are underway to expand ammunition production across Europe. Germany will co-finance the renovation and expansion of a Soviet-era factory in Romania to produce both NATO-standard shells and types of projectiles compatible with Soviet weapons used by Ukraine, according to German and Romanian officials. The project, which has not been announced so far, could be made public,” wrote journalist Bojan Pancevski in a Wall Street Journal article analyzing the Ukrainian ammunition crisis.

From this reference it is quite clear that our country is actively involved in the transfer of ammunition to Ukraine.

Rybar, a Russian think tank on the war in Ukraine, which has a “moderate position”, has made a series of posts on its Telegram and Twitter channels, showing that Romania produces and transfers ammunition for Soviet-style weapons used by Ukrainians at war.

The factories in Plopeni, Arsenal Reșita, Băbeni and Dragomirești are listed as “having the possibility to produce Soviet-type ammunition”.

What has Romania gained and lost since the start of the conflict

“NATO naturally thought about how we help the Ukrainians in this matter as well. And yes, there has been the much publicized idea that NATO is taking steps to secure ammunition for the Soviet-style artillery weaponry inherited by the Ukrainians and used in this conflict.

Of course, it’s no secret that Eastern European countries can manufacture this ammunition. We had this caliber and I’ll stop here. Why? Because it’s very good not to give certainties and leave things as they are”, said reserve commander Sandu Valentin Mateiu exclusively for Spotmedia.ro.

The planned discretion of Romanian officials regarding the military support given to Ukraine is being undermined on the one hand by the Russians, who have increasingly started to point the finger at Bucharest, irritated by the fact that Romania is so involved, but also by Kyiv, which through the voice of the Minister of Defense, Oleksiy Reznikov, announced that our country received the necessary arms orders for Ukraine for 2023, with all the necessary specifications.

“One of the key topics of every meeting in Rammstein, Germany, is the management of the production capacity of the industrialized countries that support Ukraine in this war. Orders have already been placed for next year, and not only in the US, but also in Germany, France, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania and other countries.

I will say frankly, without revealing a big secret, we have a lot of contracts already signed for the supply of the necessary weapons and the appropriate ammunition. Defense ministers or secretaries of state from various countries have also told me that even the still unsigned contracts will be approved very soon,” said Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, in an article published by the daily “Ukrainska Pravda”.

Romania failed to take full advantage, politically and strategically, of the involvement in the complicated support operation of the neighboring country.