US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Romanian counterpart signed a historic pact establishing the first US military bases in a former Warsaw Pact country.
The US takeover of bases near the Black Sea -- putting US forces within closer striking distance of potential targets in the Middle East and Central Asia -- would help "take terrorists off the streets" and save lives around the world, Rice said on Tuesday.
She called Romania -- beset by allegations that it hosted a secret CIA prison -- "a strong friend with whom we share common values."
Rice, hailing Romania as one of the US' "best allies," signed the agreement with Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.
"We have a great committed partner in Romania to make a more peaceful world," Rice said before a signing ceremony in the ornate Cotroceni Palace.
"This is a symbol of burgeoning and brightening relations," she said.
President Traian Basescu, meanwhile, denied allegations that Romania hosted a covert CIA detention center and said all facilities would be open to scrutiny to prove the ex-communist country has nothing to hide.
"There was no such thing," he said, calling allegations based on aircraft movements "baseless."
New York-based Human Rights Watch, citing flight records of planes it said had direct or indirect CIA links, has pointed to Romania's Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base as among suspicious sites that may have hosted a secret prison. Top Romanian officials and the Pentagon have denied it.
The air base is among several military installations over which the US will assume control under the agreement signed on Tuesday.
Other installations in the agreement include Babadag in the Black Sea inland region, Cincu in the mountains of central Romania and Smardan in eastern Romania, which will be used for all types of weapons training.
There will be 100 personnel based in Mihail Kogalniceanu, and up to 1,500 rotational troops will use the base at any one time, according to the US State Department. The bases will be small and rotational.
Russian legislation
Meanwhile, Rice yesterday expressed concern over restrictive draft Russian legislation regulating non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
"We hope the importance of NGOs to a stable, democratic environment would be understood by the Russian Federation," Rice said at a joint news conference in Kiev with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
The bill on non-commercial organizations, which has been approved by the Kremlin-controlled Duma in the first of three required readings, would require local branches of foreign NGOs to reregister as de-facto Russian entities, subject to stricter financial and legal restrictions.
Critics say the bill is another step in the Kremlin's effort to tighten control over society following the abolition of popular elections for governors in Russia's far-flung regions, effective state takeover of television and an increasingly tame parliament.
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