The next Russian target is the Balkans? Moscow responds promptly PHOTO

It is a project worth 2.5 billion euros that Romania launched in 2019 and which is expected to last 20 years.

The expansion of Romanian Air Base 57 Mihail Kogalniceanu on the Black Sea coast, commented by Russian officials, should consolidate NATO's eastern flank.

It is planned that this base will also serve for operations in the Middle East.

In a series of warnings from Russian officials on March 18 and 19, Russian Federation Council Foreign Affairs Committee Vice-President Andrey Klimov said the project posed a "threat to Bucharest."

According to Klimov, the bigger the "anti-Russian" military base and the "closer to the Russian borders, the more likely it will be among the first targets for retaliatory strikes."

"If Romanians like it, that's their business, of course, but the NATO suicide club involves ordinary civilians in such adventures that can end very badly for their families and children. I'm not trying to scare anyone, I'm just reasoning logically. There will be no benefit for Romania from that and there will be more threats, that is a fact," said Klimov in a discussion carried by Russian media.

Konstantin Gavrilov, the head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna negotiations on military security and arms control, said that the development of the largest NATO base in Europe in Romania is a continuation of the "erosion" of security in the Black Sea region.

The trigger for Russian officials' warning of Romania's "hostile actions" was a Euronews Romania story published on March 16 and updated on March 18, reporting on ongoing work at the base.

The story creates the impression that the project is new and will be completed quickly.

"The expansion works are in full swing, but when they are finished, this base of Mihail Kogalniceanu will become the largest in Europe. It will surpass that of Ramstein in Germany and will be able to accommodate more than 10,000 soldiers who will be able to come here with their families," according to the Euronews story.

By the way, work on the first stage of the construction of that NATO base began in April 2023.