In an interview for Radio Free Europe Romania, the new Chief of the Defense Staff, General Gheorghiță Vlad, says that the Romanian Army does not currently have the necessary law to prepare the population to deal with the expansion of the war in Ukraine.

Political leaders, such as Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk and military commanders, such as British General, Sir Patrick Sanders, said that the civilian population should prepare both psychologically and practically for a possible or eventual conflict with Russia.

The main ideas/summary of the interview:

  • The new Chief of the Defense Staff, personally (not necessarily as military) expects Russia to become more aggressive in the coming months and this should cause concern for the general public and the political establishment which, according to him, are not taking serious these threads

  • Ministry of National Defense (MApN) has submitted to the Parliament a project that amends the current law (no. 446) on the preparation of the population, for defense. General Vlad says it is necessary for the adoption of a new law which: Will allow both men and women, between ages of 18-35 years old to enroll voluntary into basic training program involving shooting practice, chemical decontamination and so on

  • The reintroduction of military service- the General gave Sweden as an example, where the military created a question form and sent it to 40.000 people, out of which only 8.000 decided to enlist, saying that he wants to replicate this in Romania

  • The Parliament has not yet adopted the laws requested by the Army to be able to effectively defend Romania.

  • Romania's reservists are too old to fight on the front (their age is on average over 40 years old) so, the reservist pool needs to be replenished

  • Romania has 80.000 duty troops in all of its branches and plans to add 40.000 more in the coming years

  • The Romanian Army will not work with those who work against Western European principles, hinting towards an incident from last year when a number of retired generals made a number of political demands that were classified as “anti-Western” by the pro-Western press

  • The Romanian Army has a huge deficit of personnel, with 6.000 people leaving the armed forces in 2023

  • Gen. Gheorghiță Vlad promised to acquire new assault rifles, night-vision goggles and boots for every soldier

  • The defense industry in Romania is incapable to meet the needs of the army. In 20 years of NATO membership, Romania has not built a production line for 155mm caliber ammunition. Much of the Romanian defense industry still works with the technology of the 70’s and still produces predominantly, Cold War era Soviet munition

  • The issue was discussed including at the level of the Supreme National Defense Council (CSAT)

  • The Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense System at the Deveselu military base was recently updated to the highest standards required by NATO

  • Last summer when a number of Russian drones fell into Romanian territory, Gen. Gheorghiță Vlad confessed that Romania was not able to shoot them down even if it wanted to, citing a number of outdated laws. Laws such as the one on Defense, on the organization and operation of the Ministry of National Defense, the one on the weapons and ammunition regime, in which the Army does not have full freedom to use weapons in peacetime, outside of military objectives or training grounds.