Romania has joined Nato Battle Group in Bulgaria

Starting January 2025, Romania augmented its troop and military equipment contribution to two more Nato Battle Groups operating in the Allied countries on the Eastern Flank, respectively Slovakia (with an anti-tank detachment) and Bulgaria (with a reconnaissance detachment), while continuing its participation in Battle Group Poland with an air defence detachment, Romania’s Defence Ministry said.

The decision to establish multinational battle groups in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary was agreed at the Madrid Nato Summit in 2022, as part of strengthening the collective defence measures on the Eastern Flank of the North Atlantic Alliance. These battle groups were organized according to the pattern of those operating in the Baltic States and Poland, which were established following the Warsaw Nato Summit, in 2016, the ministry said.

Battle Group Slovakia is led by Spain and includes soldiers from Czechia, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia. Battle Group Bulgaria is led by Italy, with troop contributions from Albania, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Türkiye and the United States.

“This expansion of our country’s contribution to ensuring allied deterrence and defence measures complements the presence of the Romanian military personnel in Battle Group Poland, to which the Romanian Armed Forces have been participating since 2017,” Romania’s Defence Ministry said.

“Romania’s participation with over 150 soldiers and means of equipment in the Nato Battle Groups reflects our country’s firm commitment to strengthening the collective defence on the eastern flank.”

The Nato Battle Group Romania has France as framework nation, and Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain as contributor states. Along with Battle Group Bulgaria, they are both coordinated by Headquarters Multinational Division South-East, in Bucharest.

“The main goal of the 360-degree approach to defence and deterrence, implemented by Nato, is the provision of collective security. It defines the Alliance’s three main tasks – deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security,” the ministry said.

(Archive photo: Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defence)

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