In rare move, top Republican lawmakers criticize US troop reduction in Romania

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top two Republican lawmakers who lead the Pentagon's oversight committees in the U.S. Congress issued a rare joint statement on Wednesday slamming the Trump's administration's decision to reduce the number of troops in Romania.

The United States plans to cut the number of troops on Europe's eastern flank, including soldiers who were to be stationed at Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu air base, Romania's defense ministry said on Wednesday. The U.S. military said the move was not "an American withdrawal from Europe or a signal of lessened commitment to NATO."

But Senator Roger Wicker, who leads the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the decision was "uncoordinated and directly at odds with the President’s strategy."

"We strongly oppose the decision not to maintain the rotational U.S. brigade in Romania," the statement said.

Despite worries on NATO's eastern flank about the potential scaling back of the U.S. presence in the region, at a time when Russia continues to wage war in Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump said in September that Washington could increase its troop presence in Poland.

The lawmakers added that the move sent the wrong signal to Russia and they were concerned it was done without consulting Congress.

Washington's European allies have been told previously by the Trump administration that they will need to take more responsibility for their own security as the United States focuses more on its own borders and on the Indo-Pacific region.

Trump has shifted back and forth when it comes to his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last week, Trump hit Russia's two biggest oil companies with sanctions to pressure Putin to end the war in Ukraine. The week prior Trump had said he and Putin would soon hold a summit in Budapest to try to end the war in Ukraine. The summit has now been postponed.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; editing by Diane Craft)