Units of the NATO Response Force arrived in Romania on Monday and Tuesday (28 February – 1 March 2022) to reinforce NATO’s defensive posture in the eastern part of the Alliance. 500 French troops assembled in Istres in southern France before deploying to Romania.
This is the first time NATO has activated the NATO Response Force for collective defence and deterrence. It follows NATO’s activation of its defence response plans amid the biggest security crisis in Europe in decades, triggered by Russia’s massive military build-up and its invasion of Ukraine.
France leads this year’s highest-readiness element of the NATO Response Force, a multinational force comprised of up to 40,000 land, air, maritime and special operations personnel that NATO can deploy at short notice as needed.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the deployment: “Over the last weeks, we have increased our presence in the eastern part of the Alliance and now, we are for the first time in our history deploying the NATO Response Force. French troops have arrived in Romania as the lead element of this force. Our commitment to Article 5, our collective defence clause, is iron-clad. We will protect and defend every inch of NATO territory.”