UPDATE - US to reduce its troops on NATO's eastern flank, says Romania

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT BY POLISH DEPUTY PREMIER

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The US will reduce its presence in some eastern flank countries, including Romania, after NATO allies were formally informed about the decision, Romania's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

The US has notified its allies that it will reduce some of its troop presence on NATO's eastern flank, news portal Romania Insider reported, citing a Defense Ministry statement.

The troop movements are not a withdrawal, according to Romanian authorities, but the end of rotations in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Hungary as some 1,000 soldiers will remain in the country, according to official figures.

"The resizing of US forces represents an effect of the new priorities of the presidential administration, announced as early as February," it said, referring to the Trump administration, which returned on Jan. 20 for a second term.

"The decision also took into account the fact that NATO has strengthened its presence and activity on the Eastern Flank, which allows the United States to adjust its military posture in the region."

According to the report, around 800 US troops will be pulled back primarily from the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, while the teams at Deveselu and Campia Turzii remain unchanged.

Separately, Poland said that they have not received any notification about a US plan to reduce its troops on the eastern flank.

"We have not received any information, just as other countries received today — as Romania did — about the reduction of the US contingent in Poland," Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said in a Defense Ministry post on US social media company X.

Praising ties between Poland and the US, he said the US is the pillar of NATO and "there is no NATO without the United States."

"All those who think that European security can be built in any other way — are mistaken; it is based on the transatlantic principle," he added.

The move follows an April report by NBC News that the US was considering pulling back around half of troops now present in Eastern Europe.

The Trump administration has stressed that its NATO allies must do more to protect themselves, with President Donald Trump often deriding the longstanding defense alliance.

NATO has yet to issue a statement on the matter.