ANALYSTS: "Russia's threats against Romania, part of an intelligence war"

Lately, various Russian officials have been periodically generating news which comprise various threats to Romania. Yesterday, the Romanian media reported the piece of news published by Russian agency Interfax, which says that the Russian Air Forces intend to station strategic tip Tupolev bombers in Crimea, in order to offset the NATO missile installations in Romania. According to an official of the Russian Ministry of Defense, a squad of Tupolev TU-22M3 supersonic bombers is set to arrive in Crimea soon.

Security analysts we talked to told us that these threats in the media are part of the Russian propaganda, which underlies the intelligence war begun by Russia after it annexed Crimea. They claim that these pieces of news are being disseminated in order to create a reaction among the press and the general public, and the propagandists are also acting through social media postings.

George Scutaru, former presidential advisor and security expert, told us: "This is not Russia's first aggressive statement against us, in which it says that it wants to increase its military presence in the area to counter NATO's anti-missile installations in Romania. We are facing an intelligence war. Such news gets extreme coverage in the NATO space.

In Romania, if we look at the comments made in response to such pieces of news, we will see that there are attempts to accredit the idea that it would be better for Romania not to get involved in a conflict that it has not created and it is better not to get Russia upset. This kind of news should be treated cautiously by the media and by the population, to avoid having the population playing the game of the propaganda. The excessive coverage and the weakening of the population's trust in NATO's and Romania's defense capabilities is the goal of this media war as far as we are concerned".

According to Mediafax, a Russian military official told Interfax, on condition of anonymity: "The attack capabilities of these Tupolev aircraft will bolster the Black Sea defense. It is one of the measures taken as a reaction to the installation of anti-missile elements in an American base military in Romania". A squadron comprises between 10 and 24 military aircraft.

In response, a NATO official vehemently condemned Russia's initiative: "As shown by NATO member states foreign affairs ministers in May, it has been more than a year since Russia has illegally and illegitimately annexed the Crimea Ukrainian region; we do not acknowledge that annexation and we are asking Russia to renounce it".

According to Newsweek, the NATO official said: "We condemn Russia's plans to increase its military presence in Crimea and we are concerned with the intentions to consolidate the military capabilities in the Black Sea region, a situation which can have implications for the stability of the region.

Russia last week asked the United States and NATO to drop its expansion of the anti-missile system, in the context of the agreement between the major powers and Iran. The nuclear agreement with Iran does not eliminate the ballistic threat, a NATO representative responded, and said that the anti-missile system plan will be implemented and explained that the anti-missile elements in Romania and Poland are not directed at Russia.

Russia expressed several times concerns over the anti-missile elements which will be installed in Romania, Poland, Spain and Turkey.

One month ago Nikolay Patrushev, secretary to the Russian Council for National Security, was saying that the anti-ballistic systems of the North-Atlantic Alliance are aimed against Russia and China.

The United States and NATO have explained that the anti-missile elements installed in Europe are not directed against Russia, having the role to counter threats coming from countries that do not comply with international regulations, such as Iran.

The American anti-missile defense system operates with land-based interceptors (fixed and mobile) and sea-based ones, capable of launching missiles to intercept short, medium and long term range prior to entering the airspace and in the territorial space of the United States.

The Aegis system, installed on military ships or on sea platforms, is used to intercept short and medium missiles. There are currently at least 24 Aegis systems installed on military American ships, most of them patrolling the Pacific Ocean. Aegis are also going to be used in the plan to create a NATO "anti-missile shield" in Europe, with the stated purpose being to offset the threats represented by countries such as Iran. Aegis systems adapted for terrestrial use (Aegis Ashore) are set to be installed at the Deveselu base (Romania) and in Poland.

In the beginning of April, the approval by the Romanian Government to supplement the NATO units on the Romanian territory has sparked a harsh reaction from Moscow, through the Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, who warned that Romania needs to be aware of its "responsibility" and the "consequences" of that decision and called NATO's actions "dangerous".

The analysts we have consulted claim that Russia knows very well that the anti-missile shield placed at Deveselu is defensive, rather than offensive. At Deveselu, the interceptors do not carry explosives on board, instead they destroy the target on impact via kinetic energy, dispersing it into outer space, the quoted sources further told us, which state that Deveselu is not for strategic missiles, but for intermediate-range missiles.

The Russian Federation has sanctioned every step that NATO took during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. According to specialists, Russia's rhetoric should not be paid excessive attention by Romania, because Russians being upset with Romania goes back all the way to the time when Romania joined NATO.