Topic: Romania Approves U.S. Military Presence

USA Today
May 3, 2007
Pg. 19


Romania's parliament approved a 10-year agreement for the United States to use four Romanian military bases and station up to 3,000 troops in the former communist country in Eastern Europe. Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said that for decades after the Soviet army invaded in 1945, many Romanians had "only one hope: that the American troops would come and free us from communism." Romania became democratic in 1990 after the breakup of the Soviet empire. Russia has criticized U.S. plans to use bases in the former Soviet bloc.