The US has started transferring more than 20 nuclear weapons from Turkey to Romania, due to the worsening relations between Washington and Ankara, sources told EurActiv.com.

According to one of the two anonymous sources, “the US-Turkey relations had deteriorated so much following the coup that Washington no longer trusted Ankara to host the weapons.”

Thus, the US decided to move the weapons to the Deveselu military base in southern Romania. Deveselu hosts the antimissile defense system Aegis Ashore, which became operational in mid-May this year.

However, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) firmly denied the information that Romania hosts American nukes.

“In response to your request, Romanian MFA firmly dismisses the information you referred to,” a ministry spokesperson wrote, reports EurActiv.com.

The journalists also asked the US State Department and the Turkish foreign ministry to comment. While the US State Department said the issue should be referred to the Department of Defense, NATO sent a comment that implies that allies must make sure that US nuclear weapons deployed in Europe remain “safe”.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com