The United States is not planning to drastically reduce the number of its troops stationed in Bulgaria and Romania

Wednesday, Jan 21, 2026

HVG

US and NATO troops are deployed across Romania and Bulgaria amid heightened tensions from Russian aggression.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Between 1800 and 2000, 250 American soldiers served in Romania and Bulgaria, primarily in the Black Sea region. Following an announcement by the Trump administration in 2025 regarding a “global force realignment,” NATO forces are withdrawing from Eastern Europe despite heightened tensions due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Concurrently, Russian drone incursions into Romanian territory and incidents in the Black Sea have increased. Romania has deployed its soldiers to the Ukrainian and Moldovan borders in January 2026, while US units have been rotated out of Romania recently. Currently, 700-800 American soldiers are stationed at Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase near Constanta, 200 are at a missile defense base in Deveselu, and another 200 serve at the Aranyosgyeresz airbase between Kolozsvár and Marosvásárhely. In addition to Americans, France has stationed 1000 troops with Leclerc tanks and Caesar self-propelled guns near Nagysinken, alongside 300 Belgian soldiers. The Romanian Ministry of Defense plans to increase the number of delegated NATO personnel to 5000, including 200 Polish and 200 Portuguese soldiers. Dutch and German troops are also stationed at Aranyosgyeresz and the Black Sea airbase, with German units recently moving Eurofighter Typhoon jets for autumn drone exercises. In Bulgaria, US forces are stationed at Graf Ignatyevo and Bezmer airbases, though in smaller numbers than in Romania; currently, over 450 American soldiers are present, and cooperation is also occurring between Bulgaria and Italy to build bunkers within the country.

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