Additional 175 US marines to be deployed to Black Sea region
3 April 2014, 00:38 -- The Pentagon said on Wednesday it was bolstering the size of its Europe-based crisis response force to 675 Marines by sending 175 new troops to a Romanian base near the Black Sea at a time of tensions over the situation at the Crimean peninsula.
Reuters reports that the Marines are part of a crisis response team headquartered in Moron, Spain, and primarily meant for operations in Africa, although they can be sent anywhere, a Pentagon spokesman said. The decision to increase the force with Marines based in Romania was made last year before the current crisis, he said. But it came right after the report on Tuesday that General Philip Breedlove, the top US officer in Europe, considers moving a US warship into the Black Sea in the coming days to reassure NATO allies and exercise with partners.
Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed the department was looking at sending a ship to the Black Sea. He didn't rule out exercises with the Ukrainian navy, but added the ship's schedule of activities was still being decided. 'This is to reassure our allies of our commitment to the region. ... It is a direct result of the current situation in Ukraine,' Warren told reporters.
Some 265 Marines are already stationed at the Romanian base as part of a Black Sea Rotational Force that conducts training and other efforts to help build the military capacity of partners in the region. Other US forces also are stationed there, as the facility is taking over as a transit hub for equipment being flown in and out of Afghanistan following the decision to close the transit center at Manas in Kyrgyzstan this summer.
To accommodate the additional Marines, US officials in Romania sought and received permission from the government to have up to 600 Marines in the country at any given time, Warren said.
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