Romania proposes joint Black Sea military command with Bulgaria
Defense Minister Radu Miruta wants a joint letter to NATO. Command would rotate among coastal states, and Bucharest says it is ready to take it over from 2028.
Symbolic image · Photo: U.S. Army Reserve photo by Sgt. Alex Romanack / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Romanian Defense Minister Radu Miruta has proposed that he and his Bulgarian counterpart send a joint letter to NATO's leadership. In it, the two countries would call for a joint military command of the Black Sea coastal states. Miruta announced the proposal on Facebook, Bulgaria's BTA news agency reported, citing Romania's Agerpres. He said he had spoken by phone with the Bulgarian minister after the latest incidents in the Black Sea. The report did not include a response from Bulgaria's Defense Ministry.
Under the proposal, the command's leadership and headquarters would rotate among the coastal states. Romania says it is ready to lead it and to host the structure on its own Black Sea coast from 2028. Until then, the command could operate from the Turkish coast, staffed by Romanian and Bulgarian officers. "The Black Sea needs a joint military command of the coastal countries," Miruta wrote. He cited drones, sunken ships and sea mines as reasons to act now rather than wait.
The minister said drone incidents in the air and at sea can no longer be treated as isolated national problems. He linked them to repeated Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, which he said create risks for neighboring countries and appear aimed at testing response capabilities at national and allied level. On the evening of Oct. 14, Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after a drone briefly entered its airspace.