NATO member Albania on Monday inaugurated a refurbished Soviet-era air base, the alliance's first in the Western Balkan region. It comes amid rising tensions in southeast Europe over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The air base is named after the small town of Kucova, 85 kilometers south of the capital Tirana.
Officials said the new air base will serve as a modern hub of operations, for training and hosting an array of fighter jets.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama welcomed the reactivation of the air base, which was officially closed in 2005, as "another element of security from our region of the Western Balkans, which we know well may be endangered from the neo-imperialist threats and ambitions of the Russian Federation.”
After the speeches at the ceremony on Monday, two US F-16 and two F-35 fighter jets from Aviano Air Base in Italy flew over while two Eurofighters landed.
The new NATO air base in Kuçovë marks a significant milestone for Albania and the security and prosperity of the Western Balkans. (1/2)#WeAreNATO #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/lyLDiwhIfY
— Bajram Begaj (@BajramBegajAL) March 4, 2024
Located in an Albanian city formerly named for Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, the site was once home to dozens of Soviet- and Chinese-made planes left for years to rust in the open air on a former communist airbase.
For the past two years, NATO funded the base upgrade with around €50 million. It included renovations to the control tower, runways, hangars and storage facilities.
"The inauguration of Kucova air base demonstrates that the Alliance – with a 360-degree approach – is heavily engaged in this relevant region," said NATO representative Lieutenant General Juan Pablo Sanchez de Lara.
Albania's Defence Minister Niko Peleshi underlined that "we must be ready to defend ourselves with the only winning formula on the table: the union of our defence forces and capabilities".
RFI correspondent Louis Seiller spoke to a man who used to work at the base in its communist heyday in the 1970s. He said the fact that the base was being rehabilitated would bring much-needed employment to the region as well as an opportunity to fix the existing infrastructure.
Not everyone is thrilled about the arrival of NATO. 80-year-old Itim told RFI that like the Russians or the Chinese, NATO will serve its own interests first.
"If there's a war, we'll be the ones on the frontline," he says, pointing to his house nearby.
The new base is also likely to irk Moscow, which strongly opposes any NATO expansion into eastern and central Europe – especially in the Balkans which has traditionally been torn between East and West.
Albania joined NATO in 2009 and is a candidate for EU membership.
(With newswires)
