Radio România Internațional

Tag: ammunition

  • March 18, 2024

    March 18, 2024

    ELECTIONS An emergency order merging the EP and Romania’s local elections on June 9 is discussed as of today in the Romanian Senate committees. The ruling coalition says the decision was made in order to motivate citizens to vote, but the opposition criticised the move. Save Romania Union, the People’s Movement Party and the Force of the Right party argue that the draft order changes essential elements in the elections only a couple of months before the vote date, which is against constitutional and international principles. AUR party, also in opposition, urged the Ombudsman office to challenge the new legislation before the Constitutional Court. Under the document, candidates may run in the local elections on behalf of a different party, provided that they notify the candidacy 45 days before election date.

    AMMUNITION PM Marcel Ciolacu Sunday night announced that Romania would have the most advanced ammunition powder production facility in Europe, in which the EU will also be a partner. Romania is set to receive EUR 47 mln in EU funding for this project implemented by the Romanian state-owned company Romarm jointly with Germany.

    STRIKE In Romania, local administration staff are on two-hour daily warning strike until the end of the week. Protests were also held one month ago, but were suspended after civil servants were promised solutions for their salary problems. Meanwhile, the leaders of the “Solidaritatea Sanitară” Trade Union Federation are meeting today for talks on a prospective all-out strike. Healthcare employees have been consulted online on the issue. Unionists say the 20% pay raise recently approved by the government is insufficient. Unionists in the trade sector, affiliated to the Cartel Alfa bloc, are also picketing the labour ministry headquarters today, to demand decent wages and working conditions.

    RUSSIA Vladimir Putin won the highest election score in the history of post-communist Russia, and secured another 6 years as president of the country he has been leading since late 1999. At midnight he thanked his supporters at his campaign office, where he gave a one-hour press conference saying his main challenge in this new term would be resolving tasks related with what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. Russia’s elections were criticised around the world. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was obvious for anybody that “there is no evil Vladimir Putin will not commit” in order to extend his rule. In turn, the White House claimed the elections in Russia were neither free nor fair, given Putin’s track record of imprisoning his political opponents. Poland said the vote in Russia, held under extreme pressure, made it impossible for the election to be free and democratic. News agencies mention that under Vladimir Putin Russia was involved in several brutal wars, in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Ukraine, and the democratic system introduced after the fall of the Soviet Union has been replaced by a regime in which independent media have been forced out of the country and the opposition has been largely eliminated, with many of Putin’s critics assassinated, arrested or forced to leave the country.

    MISSILE The US today condemned the launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea into the Sea of Japan, during the US state secretary Antony Blinken’s visit to South Korea. The presumed missile launch is the second of this kind by Pyongyang this year, after a hypersonic missile fired on January 14. Antony Blinken reached South Korea on Sunday afternoon, to take part in the 3rd Summit for Democracy conference, an initiative of the US president Joe Biden hosted by Seoul until Wednesday. (AMP)

  • March 16, 2024 UPDATE

    March 16, 2024 UPDATE

    NATO – The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, has welcomed the recent entry of the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, into the competition for the NATO leadership and considered as gratifying the fact that Central Europe finally has a candidate for the position of Secretary General of the Alliance. The Hungarian official declared, on Friday, that the government in Budapest will not support the Dutch Mark Rutte for this post, stating that in a union such as NATO, mutual trust is essential, and supporting a candidate who declared that Hungary must kneel is not possible. We remind you that President Klaus Iohannis announced, this week, his candidacy for the NATO leadership, in the context in which Romania and other Eastern partners requested greater representation in the allied structures at a time when regional security is threatened by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

     

    Romarm – Romania will receive 47 million Euros for a project carried out by the Romarm Company together with Germany. The budget allocated by the European Commission to the Romanian project is the largest of the 31 winning projects. The Commission released, on Friday, more than 500 million Euros for companies from member states, in order to increase the ammunition production capacity. It is a first installment from a total of about 2 billion Euros. According to the European Commission, at the end of 2024, European arms production will reach an annual capacity of 1,000,000 bombshells (155-caliber) and at the end of 2025 the amount will double. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Brussels, in parallel, the Commission recommends the member states to make joint purchases of larger sizes, in order to give a signal of predictability in the medium and long term to the arms industry.

     

    Russia – In Russia, Sunday is the third and last day of the presidential election, in which 112 million Russians have the right to vote. The Central Electoral Commission in Moscow announced, on Saturday afternoon, that more than 50% of the Russian voters have already cast their votes. President Vladimir Putin voted from his office, in an attempt to promote electronic voting, considered fraudulent by the opposition. Several people were arrested for spraying ink, paint and antiseptic on the ballot boxes or throwing Molotov cocktails in the direction of the polling stations. Furthermore, Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt his re-election through attacks and incursions on the border. At least 2 Russian civilians were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on the city of Belgorod, while Russia, in turn, attacked a residential area of ​​the Ukrainian city of Odessa on Friday, killing at least 20 people. According to official polls, Vladimir Putin enjoys a voting intention of over 80%, so he could achieve his biggest electoral victory since he came to power in 2000. The opposition has asked the West not to recognize the election results.

     

    Railway – The European Commission has approved 204 million Euros worth of non-reimbursable funds from the Modernization Fund, for the replacement of old locomotives with new rolling stock on the Romanian railways. The Railway Reform Authority specifies that it will use this money to buy nine long-distance interregional trains and 23 electric locomotives by 2027. The financing adds to the 470 million Euros attracted from European funds by the Transport Ministry, from which the purchase of 62 electric trains was financed.

     

    Book Fair – Romania will be present, next week, at the Leipzig Book Fair, in Germany, the most important event in Central and Eastern Europe dedicated to authors, translators and literary debates. Nine invited authors, 12 events, over 150 exhibited titles and a mini-bookstore are waiting for the public, between March 21 and 24, at the Romanian stand organized by the Ministry of Culture in Bucharest. Two of the authors who will be present at the Romanian stand have books translated, for the first time, into German, which confirms a growing interest of the German-speaking literary space in cutting-edge Romanian literature.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ready to play again after the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne reduced her 4-year suspension to 9 months, was called up to the Romanian team for the match against Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers. The match will take place on April 12 and 13, in Florida (USA). Romania and Ukraine have met four times so far, with the Romanians leading with the score 3-1. In November, Romania defeated Serbia 4-0 in the play-off to stay in the World Group of the competition, while Ukraine defeated Lithuania 3-1. On the other hand, also in tennis, the Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu/Irina Hromaceva was defeated by the pair Sara Errani (Italy)/Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia), 6-4, 6-3, on Friday, in the doubles semifinals at the American WTA 125 tournament in Charleston. (LS)

  • March 16, 2024

    March 16, 2024

    NATO – The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, has welcomed the recent entry of the Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, into the competition for the NATO leadership and considered as gratifying the fact that Central Europe finally has a candidate for the position of Secretary General of the Alliance. The Hungarian official declared, on Friday, that the government in Budapest will not support the Dutch Mark Rutte for this post, stating that in a union such as NATO, mutual trust is essential, and supporting a candidate who declared that Hungary must kneel is not possible. We remind you that President Klaus Iohannis announced, this week, his candidacy for the NATO leadership, in the context in which Romania and other Eastern partners requested greater representation in the allied structures at a time when regional security is threatened by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

     

    Romarm – Romania will receive 47 million Euros for a project carried out by the Romarm Company together with Germany. The budget allocated by the European Commission to the Romanian project is the largest of the 31 winning projects. The Commission released, on Friday, more than 500 million Euros for companies from member states, in order to increase the ammunition production capacity. It is a first installment from a total of about 2 billion Euros. According to the European Commission, at the end of 2024, European arms production will reach an annual capacity of 1,000,000 bombshells (155-caliber) and at the end of 2025 the amount will double. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Brussels, in parallel, the Commission recommends the member states to make joint purchases of larger sizes, in order to give a signal of predictability in the medium and long term to the arms industry.

     

    Russia – Saturday is the second day of the presidential election in Russia, in which almost a third of the approximately 112 million Russians with the right to vote have already participated. President Vladimir Putin voted from his office, in an attempt to promote electronic voting, considered fraudulent by the opposition. Several people were arrested for spraying ink, paint and antiseptic on the ballot boxes or throwing Molotov cocktails in the direction of the polling stations. Furthermore, Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt his re-election through attacks and incursions on the border. At least 2 Russian civilians were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on the city of Belgorod, while Russia, in turn, attacked a residential area of ​​the Ukrainian city of Odessa on Friday, killing at least 20 people. According to official polls, Vladimir Putin enjoys a voting intention of over 80%, so he could achieve his biggest electoral victory since he came to power in 2000. The opposition has asked the West not to recognize the election results.

     

    Book Fair – Romania will be present, next week, at the Leipzig Book Fair, in Germany, the most important event in Central and Eastern Europe dedicated to authors, translators and literary debates. Nine invited authors, 12 events, over 150 exhibited titles and a mini-bookstore are waiting for the public, between March 21 and 24, at the Romanian stand organized by the Ministry of Culture in Bucharest. Two of the authors who will be present at the Romanian stand have books translated, for the first time, into German, which confirms a growing interest of the German-speaking literary space in cutting-edge Romanian literature.

     

    Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ready to play again after the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne reduced her 4-year suspension to 9 months, was called up to the Romanian team for the match against Ukraine in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers. The match will take place on April 12 and 13, in Florida (USA). Romania and Ukraine have met four times so far, with the Romanians leading with the score 3-1. In November, Romania defeated Serbia 4-0 in the play-off to stay in the World Group of the competition, while Ukraine defeated Lithuania 3-1. On the other hand, also in tennis, the Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu/Irina Hromaceva was defeated by the pair Sara Errani (Italy)/Tereza Mihalikova (Slovakia), 6-4, 6-3, on Friday, in the doubles semifinals at the American WTA 125 tournament in Charleston. (LS)

  • Focus on the eastern flank

    Focus on the eastern flank


    Fifteen companies from 11 countries, Romania included, have been identified as able to start production in the defence industry, in the context of the EUs 3-pillar plan to boost ammunition deliveries to Ukraine.



    EUR 1 bln will be disbursed to plants for deliveries from existing stockpiles. Another EUR 1 bln will be spent to help ammunition plants replenish depleted stockpiles, while the 3rd pillar aims at increasing the blocs defence industrys capacity for the longer term.



    Romanian facilities are among those that will be able to help cover Ukraines ammunition demand, but they need investments. This is one of the reasons why the European Commissioner for internal market, Thierry Breton, has traveled to Romania and had meetings with senior officials.



    After his talks with PM Nicolae Ciucă, the European Commissioner said he was confident Romania would be able to play an even more important role in the EU defence industry, and added that Bucharests earmarking 2.5% of GDP for defence this year proves that Romania understands that this expenditure contributes not only to protecting the country, but to protecting the European continent as well.



    Thierry Breton also said that, given that the EU has committed to support Ukraines efforts to withstand Russias aggression, we must make sure we have the capacity to deliver the equipment and ammunition it needs, including by boosting EU production capacity.



    In turn, PM Nicolae Ciucă emphasized that strengthening the defence industry would help improve Romanias resilience and capacity to handle future challenges.



    After the meetings with Romanian officials in Bucharest, the European Commissioner visited two defence industry factories run by Romarm, Romanias chief producer and provider of military equipment and services, present in over 50 other markets in Europe, America, Asia and Africa. Romarm is currently trying to revamp its production units, either through partnerships with private companies, or through EU funded projects.



    Also in Bucharest these days is the chair of NATOs Military Committee, admiral Rob Bauer, for talks focusing on the security situation at the Black Sea, on NATOs deterrence and defence missions, and on this years main training events.



    He discussed with the foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu the preparations for the NATO summit due in Vilnius in July and the implementation of the decisions made at the Madrid summit. While at the headquarters of the Romanian Defence Ministry, Rob Bauer also had talks with the line minister, Angel Tîlvăr, and with the chief of general staff, gen. Daniel Petrescu.



    NATO remains a core pillar of Romanias security policy, Daniel Petrescu said, and added that the Romanian Army is always improving its quick and efficient response capacity. Since its first day as a NATO member, Romania has proved its dedication to the Alliance, and has made it clear it understands the value of collective defence, admiral Rob Bauer pointed out in turn. (AMP)


  • EU approves joint ammunition procurement plan

    EU approves joint ammunition procurement plan

    On Monday the European Union
    approved a EUR 2 bln plan to procure and supply ammunition to Ukraine, sources
    in Brussels announced. The 3-stage plan is designed to supply Ukrainian forces
    with at least one million 155-millimeter artillery shells in the coming 12
    months, and to replenish member states’ stockpiles, some of which are depleting
    quickly.




    Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro
    Kuleba, who attended the meeting of his EU counterparts via conference call, has
    welcomed the support. More artillery ammunition for Ukraine as fast as
    possible. This will bolster Ukraine’s capabilities on the battlefield, Kuleba said
    in a Twitter post.




    The plan, which is to be signed off
    by EU leaders at the summit on March 23-24, answers an urgent request made by
    Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy early
    this month.




    EUR 1 bln will be used to reimburse
    EU members that immediately supply Ukraine with ammunition from their own
    existing stockpiles, at EUR 1,000-1,300 per shell. The current price for such
    ammunition is EUR 4,000 and growing. Another EUR 1 bln will be used to place
    joint ammunition orders for Ukraine.




    The contracts are due in September,
    and the goal is to shorten the deadline for purchase and delivery to 6-8 months.




    A third stage of the plan concerns
    increasing production capacities with 12 EU weapons producers, to restock member
    states and to carry on supplying the Ukrainian forces. The EUR 2 bln will be
    earmarked under the European Peace Facility, an inter-government fund created
    by the member states outside of the EU budget and used since the start of the
    war to supply weapons to Ukraine.




    Seventeen of the 27 member states,
    plus Norway, will take part in the programme in a first stage, and Romania is
    one of them. It is a historic decision, said the EU diplomacy chief Josep
    Borrell, who came up with the initiative. The framework, outlined by the European
    Defence Agency, is flexible and allows us to replenish national military
    stockpiles and to help Ukraine, he emphasised.




    Also on Monday, the US announced
    authorising a further USD 350 million in military aid to Ukraine, which
    includes ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and howitzers. Russia alone could
    end its war today. Until Russia does, we will stand united with Ukraine for as
    long as it takes, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Monday. (AMP)

  • Again on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transdniester

    Again on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transdniester

    Forced to deal with an often uncomfortable cohabitation between the pro Russian Socialist president Igor Dodon and the mostly pro-Western government headed by Maia Sandu, the Republic of Moldova is trying to preserve its good relations with Brussels and Bucharest and to normalise the ones with Moscow. The withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory continues to be one of Moldova’s priorities, Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said on Wednesday in Moscow. During his first official visit to Russia, the Moldovan official met with his Russian counterpart, Serghei Lavrov, and hailed Russia’s availability to neutralise its ammunition deposited in Transdniester.



    According to the Radio Romania correspondent, Lavrov said the expired ammunition to be removed from the breakaway region of Transdniester accounts for half of the total 20 thousand tons deposited there. Preparations for the ammunition disposal could take more than a year, Seghei Lavrov said. Previously, Russian defence minister Serghei Soigu had also announced, in Chisinau, Moscow’s availability to discard their ammunition from Transdniester. Pundits are sceptical about these commitments and say that they are mere palliatives.



    Last year, the UN General Assembly adopted by a large majority a draft resolution tabled by the Republic of Moldova, requesting the withdrawal of Russian troops from the pro-Russian separatist region of Transdniester. Ten countries worked on drafting the document, including Moldova’s neighbours Romania and Ukraine, the 3 Baltic states, themselves subject to half a century of Soviet occupation, and key members of the European Union and NATO, such as Britain and Poland. A steady supporter of the independence and integrity of the neighbouring state, Bucharest promptly hailed the adoption of the resolution by a vote of 64 to 15, and 83 abstentions. The US, Germany, France, Canada, Turkey and Japan are among the relevant international players that backed the request for Russia to withdraw its military. Voting against were some of Moscow’s loyal allies, such as Armenia and Belarus, as well as the dictatorial regimes of North Korea, Syria and Cuba.



    The scene of an armed conflict that killed hundreds and only ended following the intervention of Russian troops on the side of the separatists, Transdniester has been outside the control of Moldovan authorities since 1992. In 1999, at the OSCE summit in Istanbul, Russia’s then president Boris Yeltsin undertook to pull out arms and troops from Transdniester. The process was halted 5 years later. (Translated by Elena Enache)