The US media Defense News recently published that between 2018 and 2024, Romania's Ministry of Defense plans to acquire four corvettes worth $ 1.93 billion abroad.
The Bulgarian authorities, meanwhile, announced plans to purchase two corvettes for a total amount of 503 million dollars. The aforementioned costs may prove unsustainable for both countries, taking into account their budget, writes Russian columnist Sergei Ischenko in his article for the newspaper Svobodnaya Pressa .
For example, Romania's military budget in 2017 amounted to only 3.6 billion euros. 
To allocate so large a sum to the defense, the Romanian authorities have to make considerable scrap in other areas, says Ischenko.
In this context, it is interesting to try to understand the cause why in Bucharest have decided to implement new cuts.
"When both countries, which previously acquired their ships exclusively in second-hand markets, make the almost simultaneous decision to increase their combat capabilities in the Black Sea, it is logical to assume that the need for this step was recommended by someone. someone is so powerful that it is best not to contradict him, "says Ischenko.
To find this 'hidden counselor', it is necessary to understand his motives. In this regard, the author of the article proposes to recall the initiative related to the creation by the NATO countries of a flotilla united in the Black Sea.
For the first time, this idea resonated in January 2016, precisely in Bucharest, recalls the columnist.
At that time, numerous military experts agreed that the talks about a united flotilla had been used to pressure Moscow and, in practice, had proved to be unfeasible.
© Sputnik / Vasily Batanov
Currently frigates Regele Ferdinand (F221) and Regina Maria (F222) are the main combat elements of the Romanian Navy. These ships pose no threat to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, as they are British ex-dragons who were withdrawn from service in the United Kingdom because they were obsolete.
The Bulgarian Navy does not look great today. Suffice it to mention its frigate BGS Verni - a ship of Belgian origin that previously had the name Wielingen and that was launched in March of 1976.
So what is left for NATO allies to be able to fulfill their plan related to the creation of a united flotilla? The Turkish fleet?
"Yes, the Turkish fleet is large and modernized, but the political tricks of Ottoman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan do not allow his loyalty to his NATO allies in the face of a hypothetical conflict with Russia," says Ischenko.
The journalist believes that the enemies of Russia are trying to draw up a long-term plan. As long as it is sufficient to reorganize the Navy of countries willing to everything, such as Bulgaria and Romania.
"I suppose this is how their simultaneous decision to buy a number of corvettes was born, and these ships could then become the very basis for the [NATO] united flotilla in the Black Sea." During crises, destroyers of the United States Sixth Fleet will support these ships. "
In addition, Íschenko does not exclude the possibility that the naval base that the American military are now raising in the Ukrainian locality of Ochákovo serves for the operational deployment of ships near the Crimean peninsula.
Although no data are provided on the ships that Sofia and Bucharest want to acquire, the author suggests that these are French Gowind-class corvettes. During his last trip to Bulgaria, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, praised precisely these ships.
France uses furtive technology in the production of Gowind class corvettes. The displacement of these ships - of more than 106 meters in length and more than 12 meters of sleeve - reaches 2,200 tons.
In addition, each Gowind carries very powerful artillery, as well as anti-submarine weapons and anti-aircraft defense systems. These ships can also house a helicopter.
Its key feature is the fact that the Gowind have Exocet anti-ship missiles, whose range is around 180 kilometers.
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