US donates “discreet detection vehicles” and radiation detectors to Romania

The US will donate to Romania “discreet detection vehicles” and portable radiation detection equipment worth over 1.9 million dollars, according to a draft government decision initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and published on the website of the General Secretariat of the Romanian government, in the list of normative acts under public consultation. The equipment list also includes 400 personal pagers “with sheath and LN 91 AA batteries”, worth more than $1,360 apiece.

“It is accepted for the Romanian state the donation of discrete detection vehicles and portable detection equipment provided in the annex that is an integral part of this decision, with a total market value of USD 1,948,037.45, made by the United States Department of Energy – The National Administration for Nuclear Security / Office for the Detection and Deterrence of Nuclear Smuggling“, according to the draft government decision.

That annex includes 16 types of special equipment, such as mobile radiation detection systems, kits, tablets, special backpacks, as well as 400 special pagers.

The donation also includes three Ford Ranger Wildtrak 4×4 vehicles, each valued at over $49,000, excluding VAT.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, through the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, fulfills the formalities of accepting the donation on behalf of the Romanian state.

All these assets will be used by the Romanian Police “in the specific activities of detection and/or identification of radioactive/nuclear materials”, according to the draft government decision. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, through the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, fulfills the formalities of accepting the donation on behalf of the Romanian state.

The measures comes as the Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn a new “red line” for the United States and its allies, signaling that Moscow will consider responding with nuclear weapons if the West allows Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with long-range missiles. At the same time, a former Kremlin adviser suggested the use, by Russia, of some tactical nuclear weapons on air bases in Romania and Poland, if Ukrainian F-16 planes take off from there to hit targets in the Russian Federation.

Ukraine has retorted, with Zelenskiy’s chief of staff accusing Putin of “nuclear blackmail”. “In my opinion, this is yet another bluff and a demonstration of Putin’s weakness. He will not dare to use nuclear weapons because that will make him a complete pariah,” Anton Gherashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, told X.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his warning Putin was irresponsible and poorly timed, and that this is not the first time that the “nuclear saber has rattled “, said Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, who accuses Putin of playing psychological games.