The anti-missile shield will be placed in Romania at Deveselu, in Olt County, South Romania, President Traian Basescu announced on Tuesday after a meeting of the National Defense Council on Monday night.

The President announced that the Council approved the US request to use the airport in Constanta, Mihail Kogalniceanu and Port of Constanta as transit infrastructures for the military transport and military equipment transport to Iraq and Afghanistan and return.

Here are the President’s most important statements:

•The National Defense Council approved the request of the US to use the airport in Constanta, Mihail Kogalniceacu and Port of Constanta, South East Romania as transit infrastructure for the transport of military and military equipment towards and from Iraq and Afghanistan

•I will send to the Parliament the letters with the decision of the Council

•The second subject was related to the location for the anti-missile shield: we decided that the anti-missile shield will be placed at Deveselu in Olt County, South Romania

•This is a defensive shield, of defense and of its efficiency other countries benefit as well With this anti-missile shield, Romania reaches its highest security level in its history.

•Romania complied with its objective to ensure long term security

•The elements of the anti-missile shield are not targeted against Russia

•The level of anti-terrorist alert remains blue, which means precautionary

•Currently, Romania answered the request to strengthen the security of some of its Embassies but the alert level in Romania remains precautionary

Deployment in Deveselu / south-west of Bucharest / of the U.S. missile defense elements will have no negative impact on the environment, population or agricultural crops, and the personnel working there will conduct their activities normally, stated the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, and the U.S. Undersecretary of State, Ellen Tauscher.

Tauscher said the U.S. and Romania have a strong relationship based on cooperation. Romania is a close friend and a valued NATO ally. Our countries cooperate in some of the most urgent challenges today in terms of security, as Afghanistan and Libya.

The announcement I made today marks an extremely important moment, both for Romania and the U.S., but also for NATO. Romania receives a role of prime importance in the new capacity of missile defense of NATO. (...) The location also offers a new mission and new opportunities to the airbase at Deveselu and nearby towns ( ...) and the U.S. want to continue and to strengthen the bilateral relationship with Romania in the coming years, but also to work together with Romania to make NATO even stronger, said Ellen Tauscher.

Implementation costs of the missile interceptors at Deveselu will be borne by the U.S. and, according to the Undersecretary of State, Ellen Tauscher, they amount to 400 million dollars, plus 20 million dollars annually for the operations, but these amounts do not include the cost of interceptors.

President Traian Basescu announced, after the CSAT meeting on Monday evening that the U.S. anti-missile shield will be located at the air base Deveselu in Olt County.

The lower chamber of the Russian Parliament criticized the unilateral decision of Washington and Bucharest to place the anti-missile shield in Romania.

Defense Committee VP Mihail Babici declared for the electronic publication Vzglia that the development if air defense in Europe should not be done without the synchronization of the Russian possibility to place a common shield. He said that such a system in Europe is against Russian interests. At his turn, Russia’s special representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said ironically that the plan is a Trojan horse.

Babici said that Poland, Czech Republic and Romania are relatively equally far of Russia and their systems represent similar techniques which needs to entail similar measures from Russia. The deputy did not exclude the possibility that once the system will be implemented in Romania, Russia will have to resume the issue of placing a similar system and revise the placement of Russian troops in the European part of Russia.

At his turn, Russia’s special representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin commented on Twitter, ironically, Romania’s decision to host elements of the American anti missile shield calling it a Trojan horse, alluding to President Basescu Gazeta.ru reports.