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US sets up missile shield base in Romania to Russia's worries
Bucharest: The United States (US) on Thursday activated a land-based missile defence station in Romania, which is part of a larger European shield. The ceremony was attended by senior US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) officials.
“Fundamentally, the aegis system is a shield to safeguard NATO from short and medium range projectiles, specifically from the Middle East,” said a US official.
General Secretary of NATO Jens Stoltenberg along with other senior officers from the military alliance also attended the opening ceremony at an old Romanian airbase in Deveselu.
Highlights:
- Russia sees this step as a security threat, which is denied by NATO.
- Relations between Russia and the west have worsened since Moscow annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimea peninsula in 2014.
- The US is reported to have spent $800 million on radars and missile interceptors since 2013.
- The newly-opened station will also have a battery of SM-2 missile interceptors.
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