Block instruction: NATO strengthens Black Sea patrols
At the end of July, the North Atlantic Alliance deployed Spanish F-18M fighter jets and NH-90 helicopters in Romania to control the airspace, the republic's Defense Ministry told Izvestia. According to experts, the grouping in this composition is primarily intended to combat drones. Drones are increasingly violating Romanian borders — another incident occurred on August 2. Bucharest blamed Russia for this, but did not provide any evidence. Moscow is ready for dialogue, but NATO countries ignore Russian proposals. Analysts also note that the alliance uses UAV incidents to justify militarization. And the main risk is that the direct communication channels between the military of Russia and most NATO countries are actually frozen.
NATO presence in Romania
Drones are increasingly violating the borders of NATO countries. For example, on August 2, the Romanian Ministry of Defense reported the fall of UAV fragments a kilometer from the border with Ukraine. Not far from the same line, Romanian F-16 fighters shot down three drones at the end of July. In May, an unidentified drone hit a residential multi-storey building in the city of Galac. Bucharest then blamed Russia and closed its Consulate General in Constanta. Moscow responded by suspending the activities of the Romanian Consulate General in St. Petersburg.
Against this background, the North Atlantic Alliance has significantly strengthened its deterrence and defense forces in the Black Sea region, the Romanian Defense Ministry told Izvestia. As part of an enhanced airspace patrol mission, the Spanish military arrived on July 31 to replace the British-Italian air group.
—The Spanish Air Force squad includes seven F-18M Hornet fighters, one A400M tanker aircraft, three NH-90 helicopters and about 180 military personnel (pilots and technical staff) who will carry out their tasks in Romania until the end of November," the ministry said.
The F-18M Hornet fighter jets can be used to destroy drones with a jet propulsion system. The NH0-90 helicopter is suitable for low-altitude operations against surface drones in the Black Sea, Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the HSE Center for Mediterranean Studies, told Izvestia.
Vadim Koroshchupov, a researcher at IMEMO RAS, added that the transfer of Spanish weapons is aimed at increasing the NATO contingent in Romania. In addition, its tasks include exercises to integrate fighter jets into the alliance's air and missile defense system, capable of detecting threats in almost automatic mode.
The Eastern Sentry mission has become another tool for strengthening this flank of NATO. It was launched in September 2025 after the crash of 19 drones in Poland. Its priority is to close gaps in defense against small-sized, low-flying reconnaissance drones and kamikaze drones. The Vostochny Sentry is supposed to link radars, anti-aircraft missile systems and aircraft of NATO countries into a single network from the Barents to the Black Sea. The Romanian defense ministry stressed that they are constantly exchanging information with their allies in the alliance and its military structures.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stressed that NATO is seeking to increase its forces in the Black Sea, and for this purpose the scale of military exercises is increasing. Gradually, NATO air missions are moving from the tasks of intercepting and escorting aircraft to protecting them from drones. According to the expert, the transformation will not take much time and resources, it is enough to prepare the necessary infrastructure, agree on a new legal regime for the mission and provide the pilots with authority. Vadim Koroshchupov links the transition to the implementation of the Wall of Drones program, which will also become part of the NATO air defense system.
Are contacts between Russia and NATO possible
The choice of Romania as a testing ground for new technologies is not accidental. The country is home to the Mikhail Kogalniceanu NATO airbase, which, after reconstruction, is expected to become the largest in Europe. At the same time, Bucharest itself is interested in internationalizing the issue of security on the Black Sea, offering itself as the main fulcrum of the bloc in the region. The Romanian leadership is pursuing the goal of becoming the second military power after Poland on the eastern flank of the alliance, Tigran Meloyan believes.
The build-up of NATO's military presence in Romania increases the risks of a direct clash with Russia. To fulfill the objectives of the special military operation, the Russian Armed Forces are attacking the Ukrainian port infrastructure in the area of Odessa and Izmail, which are located near Romania. Cases of dangerous approaches have already occurred many times. In May, the British Defense Minister reported an incident involving a British spy plane and Russian fighter jets. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stressed that flights of Russian aircraft are carried out in accordance with the rules.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the communication channels between NATO and Russia were curtailed after the start of the CDF in February 2022. However, the need to restore them is overdue, as the danger of accidental incidents between the military has increased, political analyst Denis Denisov told Izvestia. At the moment, Norway and Turkey have maintained official cooperation with the Russian military, and in February it became known that the United States had resumed high-level communication.
After the downing of unknown UAVs in Poland in September last year, Moscow offered Warsaw to hold consultations between the military and diplomats. The Polish side ignored the proposal. Similarly, after the drone crash in Galati, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow would conduct an investigation and give an appropriate assessment if objective data was provided to it. However, no evidence was presented this time either.
The strengthening of NATO forces in Romania clearly demonstrates that the Black Sea region has become a zone of constant and uncontrolled risk. The alliance uses UAV incidents to justify militarization, and direct communication channels between the military of Russia and most NATO countries are effectively frozen. All this makes the Black Sea region another possible point of an unintended military clash between Russia and NATO, along with the Baltic States and the Arctic.
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