Romanian Navy Chief Warns of ‘New Iron Curtain’

According to
Vice Adm. Alexandru Mîrşu, chief of the Romanian naval forces staff, efforts to
improve security and stability in the Black Sea region have taken a step back,
thanks to the aggressive activities of the Russian Federation.

The Black Sea
region includes three NATO allies in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey along with
Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, with access governed by the Montreux Convention of
1936.

After the
Cold War, Mîrşu said the region enjoyed a relatively calm security environment
until the Russians illegally occupied and annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine
in 2014. There had been some successful post-Cold War initiatives adopted by
the Black Sea nations to maintain common security and stability, including the
Black Sea Naval Force (BLACKSEAFOR), Black Sea Harmony and the Confidence and
Security Building Measures (CSBM).

“We represent a NATO presence. Our activity is not provocative and is conducted in such a way as there could not be any misinterpretation.”

Vice Adm. Alexandru Mîrşu, chief of the Romanian naval forces staff

Until 2014, BLACKSEAFOR
proved to be successful in bringing the Black Sea nations to the table and
having operational successes to improve interoperability among those countries,
Mîrşu said. Black Sea Harmony facilitated information-sharing among the
littoral countries and included coast guards and border police as well as
navies. Today, only Romania and Turkey participate. The CSBM was an agreed upon
document that addressed cooperation in the naval field — contacts and invitations
to naval bases, exchange of naval information and annual naval exercises.
However, CSBM is now only a “theoretical paper,” Mîrşu said at the Navy League’s
Sea-Air-Space exposition in National Harbor, Md.

Since its occupation
and annexation of Crimea, Russia has continued to behave aggressively toward
NATO navies operating in the Black Sea. The Russian Black Sea fleet has grown
its capabilities with new ships and submarines in just the past four years and
has added such new weapons as Kalibr-missile carrying platforms.

Mîrşu said
the 2016 Kerch Strait incident — when the Russian coast guard prevented three
Ukrainian navy vessels from entering the Sea of Azoz and then fired upon and
seized the vessels in international waters — was “an open, aggressive attack
upon the Ukrainian’s navy ships” and “demonstrates that the will of the
Russians is actually to re-establish a new Iron Curtain into the Black Sea. And
not only into the Black Sea but actually in the whole of Europe,” he said.

Last November,
a Russian SU-27 fighter conducted a provocative and unsafe maneuver when it pulled
directly in front of a U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II plane operating in international
airspace over the Black Sea. The Russian fighter kicked in the afterburner as
it departed, buffeting the U.S. plane.

The Montreux
Convention of 1936 only permits warships from non-Black Sea navies to operate
in the Black Sea for 21 days. NATO’s Standing Maritime Force deploys
periodically to Black Sea, along with allies and partners to demonstrate
cohesion and strength of the alliance and that the Black Sea is an
international sea for the use of all. Several U.S. warships have been in the
Black Sea this year.

“The Romanian
navy joins those ships when they enter the Black Sea to show them that nobody
is alone,” Mîrşu said.

The Romanian navy
has stepped up its game. It has a riverine force patrolling the Danube River,
the longest river in Europe. It is acquiring new corvettes and modernizing its
frigates. Romania has established a quasi-permanent presence at sea to send the
message that they are patrolling the maritime domain so that the sea lines of
communication are open and safe, Mîrşu said.

“We represent
a NATO presence,” Mîrşu said. “Our activity is not provocative and is conducted
in such a way as there could not be any misinterpretation.”

Mîrşu said
the Black Sea remains “the soft underbelly of NATO’s southeastern flank.” The
Russian attitude and posture in the Black Sea remains, and the Russian
Federation has established a “new Iron Curtain” dividing the allies and the
rest.

“Our response
is our permanent presence,” Mîrşu said and that we will remain a reliable
partner to our allies in the Black Sea and on the Danube and wherever we are
needed. The Romanian navy will continue to be credible security provider — not
security consumer — in our area of responsibilities.”