MEETING The EU and its member states will continue to provide military support
to Ukraine the EU’s Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell has announced at the end
of the Foreign Affairs Council. The ministers have approved another 500 million
euros for the member countries, which offer military gear and weapons to
Ukraine. The event, which brought together EU defence ministers, was also
attended by Romania’s Defence Minister Vasile Dincu. High on the agenda was the
implementation of the Strategic Compass, (the new common defence policy) with
emphasis on increasing the effectiveness of the missions and operations run as
part of the Common Defence and Security Policy. Romania’s Foreign Minister
Bogdan Aurescu was also in Brussels on Monday to attend a meeting of his EU counterparts.
Among other things the Romanian official presented measures taken by Romania to
support Ukraine and said that Bucharest would carry on humanitarian efforts,
including by providing assistance to the refugees who had come and continue to come
to this country and by operating the international humanitarian hub in Suceava,
north-eastern Romania. Aurescu also voiced support for the sixth sanction
package against Moscow and underlined the need for a stepped-up international
effort for the creation of a corridor, including at sea, for shipping Ukrainian
products, mainly cereals to third destinations via Romania.
GAS Starting gas
exploitation in the Black Sea represents a major objective in the process of
becoming independent from Russian gas, Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca
said on Tuesday during the talks he had with Eric Faillnet, director of the
Carlyle International Energy Partners, the main shareholder of Black Sea
Oil&Gas. The new offshore law, initiated at the level of the ruling
coalition, and to be endorsed shortly, creates a predictable and stable
framework for investors, Prime Minister Ciuca went on to say adding that it
offers a ballance between the interests of the state and private entrepreneurs.
Romania even has the opportunity of becoming a gas exporter in the region.
Representatives of Black Sea Oil&Gas have announced the project in Midia is
ready to kick off in June, after the last test are conducted, with a supply
capacity of one billion cubic meters annually.
TENNIS Romanian
tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu on Tuesday secured a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win against
Xinyun Han of China in the first round of the main draw of the Grand Slam
tournament of Roland Garros. The Rromanian player is to next play Susan
Bandecchi of Switzerland. Another Romanian player, Irina Bara on Tuesday made
it to the competition’s second qualifying round after a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win
against Jesika Maleckova of the Czech Republic. From the delegation
representing Romania at the event, Simona Halep, Sorana Cirstea, Gabriela Ruse,
Irina Begu and Ana Bogdan are directly qualified to the main draw. Also on Tuesday,
the Romanian-Russian pair Monica Niculescu/Alexandra Panova qualified for the
quarter finals of the WTA tennis tournament in Rabat, Morocco, with prize money
over 251 thousand dollars. The two had defeated Alicia Barnett and Olivia
Nicholls of Britain. The second-seeded Niculescu and Panova are to be playing next
Ana Danilina of Kazahstan and Ingrid Neel of the USA.
UKRAINE Roughly 265 Ukrainian soldiers who were holed up in the bunkers and
tunnels below Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant have surrendered to the Russian
troops and are considered POWs starting Monday, Russia’s Defence Ministry has
announced. According to Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the prisoners, some
of whom are wounded, would be treated in line with international norms. In
turn, Kyiv has said a prisoner swap will be taking place, as soon as the
situation of the wounded soldiers is improved. Ukrainian authorities last week
said that 1,000 troops, including 600 wounded, according to their commanders,
were holed up in the bunkers and tunnels below the Azov steelworks, which
became a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance after the Russian invasion of the
country. They retreated to Azovstal after more than a month siege of Mariupol,
a strategic port at the Sea of Azov, in south-eastern Ukraine, attacked by the
Russian troops since the beginning of the invasion and almost entirely
destroyed. The city on the coast of the Sea of Azov is strategically situated
between the Moscow-annexed Crimea and the mining region of Donbas, where the
two pro-Russia republics are and where Russia has stepped up its onslaught.
(bill)
