NATO must reposition military resources: Romania
Iran Press TV
Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:48PM GMT
Romania's President Traian Băsescu says the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) must reposition its resources in the wake of Crimea's reunification with Russia.
Speaking to reporters in Bucharest on Monday, Băsescu added that he would discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine with world leaders attending a nuclear security summit at The Hague.
'I will...take advantage of the opportunity that many heads of states are gathered here and also outside the summit and inform them about the situation in the region, the need to reposition NATO's military resources as a result of military activities of the Russian Federation over the past months and so on,' the Romanian president, whose country shares a border with Ukraine, said.
In a statement released on March 18, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned what he called Russia's "illegal" annexation of Crimea, saying Moscow "continues down the dangerous path."
On Wednesday, Rasmussen expressed concern that Russia may decide to extend what he calls Moscow's intervention beyond Crimea and into eastern Ukraine, saying Russia's actions with regard to Crimea show a wider strategy by Moscow to exert control on the region.
Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which 96.8 percent of Crimeans voted for union with Russia, with a turnout of 83.1 percent.
On March 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law documents that officially made the Black Sea peninsula part of the Russian territory despite condemnation from the West and the new Ukrainian government.
SF/HGH/SS
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