Radio România Internațional

Tag: cyber attacks

Cyber-attacks on Romania

The Supreme Defence Council, convening on Thursday in Bucharest, found that the first round of the presidential elections in Romania held on November 24 was the target of cyber-attacks designed to alter its accuracy. The Council members presented assessments concerning possible threats to national security, generated by the actions of state and non-state cyber actors on the IT&C infrastructures involved in the election process.

They confirmed that, in the current regional security context, particularly as far as elections are concerned, Romania, alongside other states on NATO’s Eastern flank, has become a priority target for hostile actions by such actors, especially the Russian Federation, which is increasingly interested in influencing social cohesion and the public agenda in the Romanian society.

Shortly after the conclusions of the Supreme Defence Council were made public, the Special Telecommunications Service, which provided technical support in the election process, confirmed the existence of such attacks. STS indicated that the number and complexity of the attacks increased as the ballot was drawing near, but that they were held off and no weaknesses were identified in terms of the safe provision of IT&C services to the Permanent Electoral Authority, the organiser of the elections.

Another conclusion of the Supreme Defence Council meeting was that the social network TikTok favoured Călin Georgescu, a candidate perceived as a pro-Russian, anti-EU and anti-NATO extremist, who won the first round of the presidential election.

After analysing the documents presented to them, the Council members concluded that Georgescu had benefited from massive exposure because his TikTok campaign ads had not displayed the unique identification code assigned by the Permanent Electoral Authority, as the Romanian electoral legislation requires. His visibility thus increased significantly compared to the other contenders, who were identified by TikTok algorithms as presidential candidates and whose campaign content was massively filtered, which exponentially decreased their visibility among the platform users.

TikTok, however, denied the accusations. In a statement issued shortly after the Council presented its conclusions, the Chinese company indicated that, to date, it had found no evidence of a “covert influencing operation” targeting the presidential elections in Romania and no evidence of foreign influence.

However, the Supreme Defence Council called on national security authorities, on the agencies involved in the smooth running of the election process, and on criminal investigation bodies to take urgent steps to clarify the issue. (AMP)

29 November 2024
May 2, 2022

Visit — The First Lady of the US, Jill Biden, will pay a visit to Romania and Slovakia, between May 5-9. The wife of President Joe Biden will meet on May 6 with American soldiers from the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base (southeastern Romania), after which she will head to Bucharest, where she will meet with Romanian government officials, with members of the US embassy, with humanitarian workers and teachers working with Ukrainian refugee children. According to a statement from the First Ladys office quoted by Reuters, on Sunday, marked in the United States as Mothers Day, Jill Biden will meet with Ukrainian mothers and children who have been forced to leave their homes because of Russias invasion of Ukraine. Jill Bidens visit is the latest signal of support from high-ranking US officials for Ukraine and its neighbors that are helping the Ukrainian refugees. The number of Ukrainian refugees stands currently at about 5.5 million, according to UN figures.

Energy — The EU energy ministers are meeting urgently today as the bloc is looking into ways to respond to a request from Russian President Vladimir Putin that European countries pay for gas in the Russian currency. Last week Russia stopped gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after the two EU member states refused to pay for gas in rubles. According to news agencies, the European ministers will consider the gradual introduction of a ban on oil imports from Russia, and by the end of the year, the EU is to give up Russian oil permanently. No final decisions have been made in this regard and there may still be opposition from some member states.

Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep meets, today, the American Cori Gauff in the Round of 16 of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Madrid, which has total prizes of 6,575,560 Euros. The Romanian tennis player has won both games played so far against Gauff. Simona Halep was a champion in Madrid in 2016 and 2017, and a finalist in another two editions.

Ukraine — In Ukraine, more than 100 civilians, women and children, have been evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. Some of them are expected to arrive in Zaporozhe today, a city controlled by the Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said. The UN and the Red Cross were involved in the evacuation operation, which began on Saturday morning. However, hundreds of civilians are still in the plants bunkers. Besides the civilians there are the last remaining Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol, a city largely destroyed in the two months of Russian attacks. According to the CNN, after the evacuation operation ended, the Russian forces resumed bombings on the plant. The bombing continued in the area of the Kharkov city, the second largest one in Ukraine, but in the same region the Ukrainian forces managed to recapture four villages. On the other hand, the Ukrainian Intelligence Service announced that it had neutralized a Russian investigation and sabotage team that allegedly tried to steal a Stinger rocket to shoot down a passenger plane over Russia or Belarus, in order to later blame the attack on Ukraine. The information was confirmed by an adviser to President Zelensky, who also added that a Russian spy had been discovered in the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army. Kyiv is the only source of this information in this respect so far.

Cyber attack — A cyber attack affected, last night, the website of the most important airport in Romania, Bucharest Otopeni. The site subsequently became operational again. The Special Telecommunications Service has blocked, in recent days, thousands of such attacks launched on the websites of some important institutions in Romania by the pro-Russian group Killnet. The group has also attacked websites of state institutions in neighboring Moldova and in EU and NATO countries. In response to the Russian hackers’ attacks, the Anonymous Romania group announced that it had attacked and blocked the site of the unified public procurement system in Russia, which had been out of order for two days.

Immigrants – The number of Ukrainian citizens who entered Romania on Sunday decreased by 27.6% compared to the previous day, according to a communiqué of the Border Police General Inspectorate. On Sunday, at national level, 107,432 people entered Romania through the border crossings, of whom 7,648 were Ukrainian citizens. Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, about 836 thousand Ukrainians have entered Romania, most of them transiting to other countries.

Statistics – In Romania, the unemployment rate stood at 5.7% in March, slightly higher than in the previous month, show data published on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics. The estimated number of unemployed for March was 475,000, up by 7,000 persons from February, but down from 11,000 persons as compared to March 2021. By gender, the unemployment rate for women was 0.1% higher than the rate for men (the respective values being 5.8% for women and 5.7% for men). The unemployment rate level among young people remains high, standing at 22%, according to INS. On the other hand, the 3-month ROBOR index, based on which the cost of consumer loans in lei with variable interest rate is calculated, rose on Monday to 5.01% per year, from 4.95% on Friday, as shown by data published by the National Bank of Romania. A higher level than that was recorded on April 3, 2013, when it stood at 5.03% per year. (LS)

2 May 2022
May 1, 2022 UPDATE

WAR IN UKRAINE – Over 50 civilians,
including children, were evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol,
after the venue was sieged for weeks on end by Russian forces. The group of
people was transferred to a location commonly agreed upon with the Russian
side, in the hope of reaching Kyiv-controlled territory, Ukrainian soldiers
trapped inside claim. Moscow faced immense international pressure to allow
civilians to evacuate, although all previous attempts to do so were
unsuccessful. The full occupation of the port-city is one of the Russian army’s
strategic objectives. Holding Mariupol would help Russia occupy the entire
Ukrainian southern coast, and would link the separatist region of Donbas to the
Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. At the same time, Russia presses
on its offense in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of
seeking to wipe the entire region off the map. Meanwhile, French president
Emmanuel Macron has confirmed his willingness to provide certain security guarantees
to Ukraine. Macron talked to his Ukrainian counterpart over the phone on
Saturday. The French president expressed his readiness to work hard to restore
Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Poland too announced it would
be willing to guarantee Ukraine’s security as part of a possible peace treaty
with Russia. Also on Sunday, president Zelensky met in Kyiv with the the US
House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. We believe that we are
visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom… Our commitment is
to be there for you until the fight is done, Pelosi told Zelensky,
according to a video tweeted by the Ukrainian presidency.

CYBER
ATTACKS – The
Romanian Intelligence Service warns against possible ransomware attacks on a large
scale, targeting the email addresses of institutions in Romania. The Service
recommended people not to click on links or attachments that are not usually
addressed to them or were sent by unknown sources. The same precautionary
measures are recommended in the case of text, WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram
messages. A wave of cyber-attacks started in Romania on Friday, hackers
targeting the website of the National Cyber Security Directorate, as well as
other public institutions and private organizations. The Romanian Service for
Special Telecommunications managed to block a few thousand attacks. Claimed by
the Killnet network of hackers, the operation came in response to Romania’s
support for Ukraine. This month Killnet hackers attacked the websites of institutions
in a number of states as well as the EU and NATO.

PARLIAMENT – The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies are
expected to convene on May 3 in a joint plenary sitting. The agenda of the
meeting includes a letter of president Klaus Iohannis, notifying Parliament he
approved NATO’s request to deploy armed forces in Romania. The two chambers of
Parliament will also discuss a proposal to disband friendship groups with the
Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus at Parliament level. Next week,
Parliament is also expected to appoint new Constitutional Court judges.

CONFERENCE – The Conference for
the future of Europe, a broad citizen initiative launched a year ago, resulted
in over 300 proposals being tabled for the reform of the European Union. The
proposals were adopted on Saturday during a plenary sitting in the European
Parliament. Drafted by over 50,000 participants, the proposals were uploaded on
an online platform available in 24 languages, which remains open until May 9.
Despite a late start in negotiations between the three European institutions -
the European Union, the Council of the European Union and the European
Parliament, as well as due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conference completed
its activity before the end of France’s term at the helm of the Council of the
European Union. Nearly a year since the launch ceremony hosted by Strasbourg,
the Conference will officially end on May 9 in an event at the European
Parliament, marking Europe Day The final report, which is expected to undergo
certain changes in addition to the recommendations adopted on Saturday, will be
submitted to the presidents of the three European institutions, as well as to
French president, Emmanuel Macron.

EUROSTAT – The pandemic has reduced
life expectancy in most EU member states, the Eurostat reports. Compared to the
levels of 2019, life expectancy in 2020 dropped by at least one year in nine EU
Member States – Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Lithuania,
Poland, Romania and Slovenia, and went up by a month in Denmark and Cyprus. In
Romania, life expectancy dropped by 1 year and 4 months. According to Eurostat
data, Romanian men live on average until the age of 70, while women until the
age of 78.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis
player Simona Halep has advanced to the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open,
totaling some $6.5 million in total prizes, after ousting Paula Badosa of Spain,
world no. 2, in the round of 32. In the next round, Halep will take on Cori
Gauff of the USA. A former world no. 1, Halep won the Madrid Open in 2016 and
2017 and played the final in 2014 and 2019. (VP)

1 May 2022
May 1, 2022

WAR IN UKRAINE – Over 20 civilians,
including six children, were evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks in
Mariupol, after the venue was sieged for weeks on end by Russian forces. The group
of people was transferred to a location commonly agreed upon with the Russian
side, in the hope of reaching Kyiv-controlled territory, Ukrainian soldiers
trapped inside claim. Moscow faced immense international pressure to allow
civilians to evacuate, although all previous attempts to do so were
unsuccessful. The full occupation of the port-city is one of the Russian army’s
strategic objectives. Holding Mariupol would help Russia occupy the entire
Ukrainian southern coast, and would link the separatist region of Donbas to the
Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. At the same time, Russia presses
on its offense in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of
seeking to wipe the entire region off the map. Meanwhile, French president
Emmanuel Macron has confirmed his willingness to provide certain security guarantees
to Ukraine. Macron talked to his Ukrainian counterpart over the phone on
Saturday. The French president expressed his readiness to work hard to restore
Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Also on Sunday, president
Zelensky met in Kyiv with the the US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy
Pelosi. We believe that we are visiting you to say thank you for your fight
for freedom… Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is
done, Pelosi told Zelensky, according to a video tweeted by the Ukrainian
presidency.

CYBER
ATTACKS – The
Romanian Intelligence Service warns against possible ransomware attacks on a
large scale, targeting the email addresses of institutions in Romania. The
Service recommended people not to click on links or attachments that are not
usually addressed to them or were sent by unknown sources. The same
precautionary measures are recommended in the case of text, WhatsApp, Signal or
Telegram messages. A wave of cyber-attacks started in Romania on Friday,
hackers targeting the website of the National Cyber Security Directorate, as
well as other public institutions and private organizations. Claimed by the
Killnet network of hackers, the operation came in response to Romania’s support
for Ukraine. This month Killnet hackers attacked the websites of institutions
in a number of states as well as NATO.

MAY
DAY – In
Romania, May Day on Sunday marked the International Workers’ Day, when people
usually go out on mini-holidays or choose to spend time out with their
families. Some 30,000 tourists traded the traditional day out barbequing or
camping for a trip to the seacoast, on what the authorities call the start the
summer season. The most crowded seacoast resorts were Vama Veche, Mamaia and Costinești,
which hosted music festivals and parties. Some Romanians went to mountain
resorts on Prahova Valley, while in Bucharest the authorities closed down
streets to road traffic, turning them into pedestrian areas. In France, the
International Workers’ Day was the first test of the reelected president,
Emmanuel Macron, a day when trade unionists traditionally take to the streets
to voice their demands. Some 300 such events were announced on Sunday.

CONFERENCE – The Conference for the
future of Europe, a broad citizen initiative launched a year ago, resulted in
over 300 proposals being tabled for the reform of the European Union. The
proposals were adopted on Saturday during a plenary sitting in the European
Parliament. Drafted by over 50,000 participants, the proposals were
uploaded on an online platform available in 24 languages, which remains open
until May 9. Despite a late start in negotiations between the three European
institutions – the European Union, the Council of the European Union and the
European Parliament, as well as due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Conference
completed its activity before the end of France’s term at the helm of the
Council of the European Union. Nearly a year since the launch ceremony hosted
by Strasbourg, the Conference will officially end on May 9 in an event at the
European Parliament, marking Europe Day The final report, which is expected to
undergo certain changes in addition to the recommendations adopted on Saturday,
will be submitted to the presidents of the three European institutions, as well
as to French president, Emmanuel Macron.

COVID-19 – Chinese
authorities are tightening anti-COVID restrictions in the capital Beijing,
where citizens must present a negative test for COVID-19 in order to access
public spaces. Proof of COVID testing is also required to use public
transportation starting May 5. The new restrictions will remain in place
indefinitely, at a time when the Chinese capital city was entering a five-day
holiday period. China is facing a resurge of COVID infection and remains
committed to fully eradicating the virus. The harshest measures were introduced
in Shanghai, which is currently on lockdown. Confined to their homes, citizens
face great difficulties in getting supplies.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis
player Simona Halep has advanced to the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open,
totaling some $6.5 million in total prizes, after ousting Paula Badosa, world
no. 2, in the round of 32. In the next round, Halep will take on Cori Gauff of
the USA. A former world no. 1, Halep won the Madrid Open in 2016 and 2017 and
played the final in 2014 and 2019. (VP)

1 May 2022
April 29, 2022

VISIT The PM of Bulgaria Kiril
Petkov is on a working visit to Romania today. He will be received by president Klaus Iohannis and will also have talks
with his Romanian counterpart, Nicolae Ciucă. The agenda of the visit also includes a meeting with the European
Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, and
the signing of an agreement between the Romanian and Bulgarian governments
concerning the opening of the Giurgiu – Ruse ferryboat checkpoint. During the visit of the Bulgarian delegation,
the Romanian defence minister Vasile Dîncu will have talks with his Bulgarian
counterpart Dragomir Zakov.

PARLIAMENT The Speaker of Romania’s Chamber of Deputies, Marcel
Ciolacu, announced meetings in the forthcoming period between the leaders of
the parliaments of Romania and the neighbouring Republic of Moldova. A meeting
may take place in Iaşi (eastern Romania), near the Moldovan border, he added.

ECONOMY The National Strategy and Forecast Commission revised its economic
growth estimate for this year from 4.3% predicted in winter down to 2.9% in its
latest report. According to the Commission, the reassessment was triggered by
the effects of the conflict in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia, while
the new pandemic wave in China is also expected to deepen trade logjams,
especially in the automotive industry. The
Romanian central bank’s deputy governor Leonardo Badea also said, in a
specialised conference, that the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have
generated significant economic and fiscal problems.The IMF expects
Romania’s GDP to go up 2.2% this year, while the World Bank’s estimate is 2.9%.

CYBER ATTACKS Today’s cyber-attack on websites of Romanian public and
private institutions was claimed by a cyber-crime group called Killnet, the
National Cyber Security Directorate announced. A number of Distributed Denial
of Service (DDoS) attacks targeted websites belonging to the government,
defence ministry, border police, the passenger railway corporation CFR and OTP
Bank, and was claimed to be in response to Romania’s support of Ukraine in the
military conflict with Russia. Prague
also accused a pro-Russian hacker group of committing cyber-attacks against websites
run by the Czech public administration, hospitals and private entities on April 21.

VETERANS Several military ceremonies are held today
to mark the War Veterans Day in Romania. The defence minister Vasile Dîncu and
the chief of staff gen. Daniel Petrescu will attend the events at the Monument
of Heroes in Bucharest, while similar events will take place across the country
and abroad. Also today, defence ministry officials will have an informal
meeting in Bucharest with war veterans, children, students, and troops from
theatres of operations.

UKRAINE NATO warns that the West must be prepared
for a long-term conflict. Its deputy secretary general Mircea Geoană said that the
coming days and weeks may prove decisive, but that the war in Ukraine is likely
to last longer-perhaps months or even years, depending on many factors. Russia
carries on its offensive to get full control over the regions of Donetsk and
Luhansk in eastern Ukraine and to create a land corridor to Crimea, the
Ukrainian Army announced. Moscow also increased the number of drones flying
over Odessa region on aerial reconnaissance missions, while local officials say Russia disseminates fake news and
disinformation in an attempt to induce panic among the civilians in the region.

FESTIVAL The French Institute in Bucharest, jointly with Europavox,
organises a series of round tables, panel discussions and workshops entitled What’s
Next for European Music on May 4 and 5. The participants will look at the
music sector after the pandemic, opportunities in a new European framework,
current financing opportunities in the EU, the European culture in solidarity
with Ukraine, and digital communication in the context of the Covid-19
pandemic. The debates will be held in English. During the same period, artists
from 6 European countries will perform in Bucharest as part of the first
Europavox Festival edition held in Romania.

MAY
DAY The summer
season officially begins this weekend in Romania. Hotel owners expect nearly
30,000 tourists to spend May Day on the Black Sea coast. Data centralised by a
tour operator indicate that over 100 hospitality units are ready to receive
their guests, with the resorts of Mamaia and Costineşti in the highest demand. (AMP)

29 April 2022
July 31, 2021 UPDATE

COVID-19 – 156 new cases of
COVID infection were reported on Saturday, in addition to 3 related fatalities.
56 people are now in intensive care. We recall that, starting August 1,
teenagers aged 12-17 can receive the anti-COVID vaccine produced by Moderna, in
addition to the Pfizer vaccine. Romania is closing in on the 5 million
vaccinated people mark, of whom most have completed the full vaccination
scheme. The number, however, is below the authorities expectations.

CYBER ATTACKS – Romanian
hospitals are vulnerable to cyber-attacks, while their level of digital
security is low, the Romanian Intelligence Service has warned, after last week
a hospital in Bucharest was the target of a ransomware attack. According to the
Service, such attacks are used by hackers to demand ransom for crypted data.
Although of medium or low complexity, the attacks may severely disrupt the
activity of healthcare institutions. The Service recommends the adoption of
centralized measures to impose the implementation of minimum cyber security at
the level of these institutions.

ATTACK – The Foreign
Ministry in Bucharest announced it would provide all the necessary assistance
and will actively monitor the investigation into the circumstances of the
violent attack that killed a Romanian national on Thursday in the Arabian Sea.
The Ministry recalls that so far Romania’s missions have received no requests
for consular assistance. One Romanian citizen and a British one were killed
during an attack on Thursday onboard the Mercer Street oil tanker off the Oman
coast in the Arabian Sea. According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade
Operations, an anti-piracy organization, the attack took place some 280
kilometers southeast of Oman’s capital city. Zodiac Maritime issued a statement
saying the ship was Japanese-owned.

AMBASSDOR – Romania’s new
ambassador to the United States, Andrei Muraru, was on Friday received at the
US State Department where he presented copies of his letters of accreditation.
In a post on Facebook, the Romanian diplomat said the reception is a rare
exception made by the US State Department, which is a clear indication of the
special importance of US-Romanian relations. Andrei Muraru said that, during
his meetings with US officials, he expressed Romania’s firm commitment to
consolidating the strategic partnership at military, political, economic,
cultural and educational levels.

DEFICIT – Romania’s
budget deficit stood below 3% of the GDP after the first six months of the
year, which signals a drop according to centralized data published by the
Finance Ministry. Budget revenues are 20% higher compared to the similar period
of last year. Spending also went up by 10%, compared to 2020. The largest share
represented investment, followed by COVID-related spending. Personnel spending
also went up 4.5%, while social welfare expenses also increased by some 9%.

VISIT – Principal
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Kathryn Huff and David Muniz,
Charge d’affaires of the US Embassy in Bucharest on Friday visited the Nuclear
Power Plant at Cernavodă. According to a US Embassy release, the visit was
aimed at starting bilateral talks over the recent ratification by president
Klaus Iohannis of the US-Romanian inter-government agreement, also marking the
10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership between the two
states. The US Embassy also says the agreement allows for cooperation in key
sectors for Romania as well as in the field of civilian nuclear energy,
particularly as regards projects to build Units 3 and 4 and modernizing Unit 1
at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant. The USA and Romania in October 2020
signed an extended inter-government cooperation agreement regarding the
development of nuclear energy projects at Cernavodă and in the field of
civilian nuclear energy in Romania. In November 2020, the European Commission
ratified the US-Romanian agreement that provides for the building of reactors 3
and 4 at Cernavodă. The project will be using the CANDU 6 technology, which is
similar to the current one being used in units 1 and 2.

FESTIVAL – Cancelled last
year due to the COVID pandemic, the Medieval Sighişoara Festival, the
longest-lasting festival of its kind in Romania, will this year bring together
artists, craftsmen and a large number of guests. The only medieval citadel
still inhabited in southeastern Europe, Sighişoara will this weekend see
warriors, knights, ladies of the court and master craftsmen pouring in from all
corners of the country and from abroad. On Friday, the medieval play The Farce
of Master Pathelin, stage directed by our colleague from the Aromanian
Service, Toma Enache, who is also the festival’s stage director, was premiered.
A concert by the band Phoenix is scheduled for Sunday. Entry is free of charge,
face masks are mandatory and only vaccinated people or those presenting a negative
PCR test for COVID-19 can attend the performances.

WEATHER – A heat wave
continues to grip Romania, with code orange and yellow alerts having been
issued in most regions. Meteorologists expect extremely high temperatures,
thunderstorms, but also strong wind and hail during the interval. Highs may
exceed 38 degrees locally. (VP)

31 July 2021
July 31, 2021

COVID-19 – 156 new cases of
COVID infection were reported on Saturday, in addition to 3 related fatalities.
56 people are now in intensive care. We recall that, starting August 1,
teenagers aged 12-17 can receive the anti-COVID vaccine produced by Moderna, in
addition to the Pfizer vaccine. Romania is closing in on the 5 million
vaccinated people mark, of whom most have completed the full vaccination
scheme. The number, however, is below the authorities expectations.

CYBER ATTACKS – Romanian
hospitals are vulnerable to cyber-attacks, while their level of digital
security is low, the Romanian Intelligence Service has warned, after last week
a hospital in Bucharest was the target of a ransomware attack. According to the
Service, such attacks are used by hackers to demand ransom for crypted data.
Although of medium or low complexity, the attacks may severely disrupt the
activity of healthcare institutions. The Service recommends the adoption of
centralized measures to impose the implementation of minimum cyber security at
the level of these institutions.

ATTACK – The Foreign
Ministry in Bucharest announced it would provide all the necessary assistance
and will actively monitor the investigation into the circumstances of the
violent attack that killed a Romanian national on Thursday in the Arabian Sea.
The Ministry recalls that so far Romania’s missions have received no requests
for consular assistance. One Romanian citizen and a British one were killed
during an attack on Thursday onboard the Mercer Street oil tanker off the Oman
coast in the Arabian Sea. According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade
Operations, an anti-piracy organization, the attack took place some 280
kilometers southeast of Oman’s capital city. Zodiac Maritime issued a statement
saying the ship was Japanese-owned.

AMBASSDOR – Romania’s new
ambassador to the United States, Andrei Muraru, was on Friday received at the
US State Department where he presented copies of his letters of accreditation.
In a post on Facebook, the Romanian diplomat said the reception is a rare exception
made by the US State Department, which is a clear indication of the special
importance of US-Romanian relations. Andrei Muraru said that, during his
meetings with US officials, he expressed Romania’s firm commitment to
consolidating the strategic partnership at military, political, economic,
cultural and educational levels.

DEFICIT – Romania’s
budget deficit stood below 3% of the GDP after the first six months of the
year, which signals a drop according to centralized data published by the
Finance Ministry. Budget revenues are 20% higher compared to the similar period
of last year. Spending also went up by 10%, compared to 2020. The largest share
represented investment, followed by COVID-related spending. Personnel spending
also went up 4.5%, while social welfare expenses also increased by some 9%.

VISIT – Principal
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Kathryn Huff and David Muniz,
Charge d’affaires of the US Embassy in Bucharest on Friday visited the Nuclear
Power Plant at Cernavodă. According to a US Embassy release, the visit was
aimed at starting bilateral talks over the recent ratification by president
Klaus Iohannis of the US-Romanian inter-government agreement, also marking the
10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership between the two
states. The US Embassy also says the agreement allows for cooperation in key
sectors for Romania as well as in the field of civilian nuclear energy,
particularly as regards projects to build Units 3 and 4 and modernizing Unit 1
at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant. The USA and Romania in October 2020
signed an extended inter-government cooperation agreement regarding the
development of nuclear energy projects at Cernavodă and in the field of
civilian nuclear energy in Romania. In November 2020, the European Commission
ratified the US-Romanian agreement that provides for the building of reactors 3
and 4 at Cernavodă. The project will be using the CANDU 6 technology, which is
similar to the current one being used in units 1 and 2.

FESTIVAL – Cancelled last
year due to the COVID pandemic, the Medieval Sighişoara Festival, the
longest-lasting festival of its kind in Romania, will this year bring together
artists, craftsmen and a large number of guests. The only medieval citadel
still inhabited in southeastern Europe, Sighişoara will this weekend see
warriors, knights, ladies of the court and master craftsmen pouring in from all
corners of the country and from abroad. On Friday, the medieval play The Farce
of Master Pathelin, stage directed by our colleague from the Aromanian
Service, Toma Enache, who is also the festival’s stage director, was premiered.
A concert by the band Phoenix is scheduled for Sunday. Entry is free of charge,
face masks are mandatory and only vaccinated people or those presenting a negative
PCR test for COVID-19 can attend the performances.

WEATHER – A heat wave
continues to grip Romania, with code orange and yellow alerts having been
issued in most regions. Meteorologists expect extremely high temperatures,
thunderstorms, but also strong wind and hail during the interval. Highs may
exceed 38 degrees locally. (VP)

31 July 2021
October 4, 2018

CORRUPTION – The Romanian police have today confirmed
that the former tourism minister Elena Udrea and the
former head of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism
(DIICOT), Alina Bica, have been detained in Costa Rica, following intelligence
sent from Bucharest. According to judicial sources, the two are to be heard in
court. They have applied for asylum in Costa Rica, and that is why judges might
postpone a decision regarding their extradition. Udrea and Bica were under
investigation, surveillance and monitoring by the Costa Rican authorities, as
they were wanted internationally by Interpol, following the sentences they had
received in Romania for corruption. For a long time seen as the most
influential character in the former president Traian Basescu’s entourage, Udrea
received from the High Court of Cassation and Justice a final 6-year prison sentence for bribe taking
and abuse of office. The same court sentenced Bica to 4 years in prison, in a
case in which she was accused of aiding and abetting a criminal.

REFERENDUM – The campaign for the
referendum on redefining family in the Romanian constitution, due on October
6-7 ends on Friday, 7 a.m. local time. Romanian citizens are called to the
polls to say whether they agree to see the definition in the Constitution,
which currently reads ‘the consented marriage between spouses’, changed into
‘the consented marriage between a man and a woman’, the definition proposed by
Parliament. The initiative to change the phrasing in the Constitution came from
the Coalition for Family, which comprises
several Christian organizations. The coalition gathered 3 million signatures to
support their initiative. The referendum has been criticized by associations
that protect the rights of sexual minorities. For the referendum to be valid,
at least 30% of the voters registered on electoral lists must take part, and
25% of the votes must be valid.

MONETARY POLICY – The Romanian Central Bank has
decided to maintain the monetary policy interest rate at 2.5% per year, and the
one for bank deposits at 1.5%. The interest rate for loans will stand at 3.5%.
These interest rates are used in the relations between commercial banks and the
Central Bank. The values of the current rates for minimum reserve requirements
applicable to liabilities in RON and in hard currencies have also been
maintained.

EU BUDGET – The EU has inadequately spent
some 3.3 billion Euros, which accounts for 2.4% of its 2017 budget, the
European Court of Auditors has announced today, quoted by news agencies. The
money has not been spent in keeping with the EU regulations, either because of
improper allocation or accounting errors. However, the ECA has stated that the
rate of improperly spent money follows a downward trend, after values such as
3.1% in 2016 and 3.8% in 2015. According to analysts, the report issued by the
Court of Auditors comes at a critical time for the EU, against worries in
Brussels that growing Euroscepticism might strengthen populist parties in next
year’s European elections.

NATO – The NATO defense minister’s meeting
continues in Brussels. On Wednesday, the participants analyzed the stage of
implementation of the decisions made by the allies at the July summit in Poland
and analyzed the progress made by Tbilisi in implementing the Substantial
NATO-Georgia Package. Also, the agenda includes talks with EU, Finish and
Swedish officials on issues of common
interest, such as military mobility or fighting hybrid and cyber attacks.
Romania is represented at the meeting by the Defense Minister Mihai Fifor, who
will also hold talks with his counterparts from Canada, Great Britain, Italy,
Spain and Turkey, as well as with the US General Curtis Scaparrotti, the
Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations.

CYBERCRIME – The Romanian Foreign Ministry expresses
its solidarity with Great Britain, following London’s denouncement of hostile
cyber actions. ‘Romania, in its capacity as EU and NATO member state, situated
in the proximity of regions marked by instability, is facing such challenges
too’ reads a communiqué issued this morning by the ministry. Bucharest has
reconfirmed its commitment to supporting the fight against cyber attacks and
has voiced interest in cooperating with Great Britain and the other allies in
implementing firm and concrete measures aimed at preventing and curbing such
phenomena. Previously, the British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt had accused
the Russian military intelligence services (GRU) of perpetrating cyber attacks
against companies and institutions across the world. Together with our allies,
we will expose and respond to the GRU’s attempts to undermine international
stability, Hunt said.

HANDBALL – Romania’s
men’s handball champions Dinamo Bucharest have scored their first victory away
from home in the current season of Champions League, by defeating 32-31 the
Finish of Riihimaen Cocks, in Group D. Dinamo now ranks second in the group
with 6 points, just like the Polish of Orlen Wisla Plock who rank first, with one
game less on their record sheet. The two teams are to meet in Bucharest on
October 14th. In another development, in women’s handball, Romania’s
champion CSM Bucharest plays on Friday against the Hungarians of FTC Rail Cargo
Budapest, in a match part of Group D of the Champions League, the first this
season.

4 October 2018
A legal action has been launched following the cyber attack on Friday

According to the authorities in Bucharest, the servers of the Romanian public institutions, including those of the Government, the Fiscal authority or the Customs Office have not been affected by the cyber attack Romania has recently seen. Anton Rog, the head of the Cyberint National Centre, an institution coordinated by the Romanian Intelligence Service, speaks about the incident:

“The systems are fully operational, the customs check-points are functional and so are the apps used by the National Fiscal Administration Agency. The service has been previously notified about this attack and took all the necessary measures for the 54 public institutions under its protection. Our service has sent them all the procedures they had to follow, the packages they had to download and install in order to avoid this kind of problems. It was a spear phishing attack, sent through e-mails. Once the mail opened a certain type of virus, a malware programme was launched with the view to extracting data from the infected servers. Right now the institutions we are protecting have already applied the security programmes from the producer, taking all the procedural measures and we can say the situation now has improved. In terms of scope, however, this was the biggest attack at world level. There are thousands of such attacks on a daily basis and Romania is no exception to the rule.

Romanias National Bank hasnt been affected either. However, preemptive measures are needed as the threat of fresh cyber attacks is even bigger than a typical global financial crisis. Here is Central Bank governor Mugur Isarescu:

“Many central banks have developed real security systems in the field and we are making efforts together with the state authorities to control the phenomenon.

Although public institutions have been protected there were other victims such as the Romanian carmaker Dacia Renault, which, amid an intense IT crisis at the end of last week, had to halt production and send workers at home. The National Centre for Response to Cyber Security Incidents (CERT-RO) has received no less than 300 reports. Here is Mihai Rotariu, cyber-security consultant with CERT-RO.

We have so far received around 322 IPs, but that doesnt necessarily mean there are 322 victims infected. We dont know for sure how many victims are behind these IP addresses. The trend cannot be assessed as nobody has to report these incidents to CERT-RO, but it signals all users to comply with minimal cyber-security norms, particularly when it comes to updating systems and making backups on external storage devices, which should be later detached from the operating work stations.

In parallel, prosecutors with the Bucharest-based Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have launched an investigation into the cyber-attacks. They are waiting to get information in this respect from the Romanian Intelligence Service but also for the people affected to press charges. (Translated by D. Bilt)

16 May 2017
May 13, 2017

CYBER ATTACKS– A wave of simultaneous cyber attacks has targeted tens of thousands of computers in some 100 countries, including Romania. The most affected seems to be the UK’s NHS, the national healthcare system, followed by the American giant FedEx, the German public railway company and the French car manufacturer Renault. At the Dacia factory owned by the Renault group in Romania, part of the activity has been hampered by some IT systems which have been affected and several employees have been sent home. Also, a crisis cell has been set up to monitor the situation. The European Police Office, Europol has said the wave of attacks is without precedent, adding that a complex international investigation is needed to identify the culprits. Most cyber attacks in the world are based on a blackmailing principle: access to a computer’s files is denied until a ransom is paid. Owners of affected computers are advised not to pay any money to the hackers. Experts in the field also advise computer users to upgrade their operating systems, to use anti-virus programs and to store their important or sensitive information on external hard-drives. On Friday, the Romanian Intelligence Service announced it had foiled a cyber attack against a government institution in Romania. The Intelligence Service did not disclose the exact name of the target, but media sources in Bucharest say it was the Foreign Ministry.

VACCINE CRISIS — Romanian PM Sorin Grindeanu on Friday called for urgently setting up an operative group made up of representatives of the government, professionals’ societies, associations and civil society to find immediate solutions to the vaccine crisis in Romania. The operative group will have a clear mandate, including the responsibility of coming up with a set of proposals to amend the legal framework, to allow, on short term, for purchasing the necessary vaccine shots, and on medium term, to assure the necessary stocks. The vaccine crisis has become a recurrent problem in Romania, as from time to time hospitals and pharmacies are running out of mandatory vaccines for babies.

EUROVISION – Ilinca and Alex Florea, with the song “Yodel It!”, will represent Romania in this evening’s final of the Eurovision Song Contest held in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. They will perform on stage in the second part of the competition, according to the draw. Their piece is the sixth best rated song at the betting houses, with several music sites saying the two singers make up the most beloved duo of this year’s edition of Eurovision. The 65th edition of the European Song Contest is unfolding under the slogan “Celebrate Diversity.”

TENNIS– The best Romanian woman tennis player, Simona Halep, (no.8 WTA) is this evening facing Kristina Mladenovic of France (no. 17 WTA) in the final of the Madrid tennis tournament, with over 5 million dollars in prize money up for grabs. So far, Halep has won only one of the four matches she has played Mladenovic. The Romanian tennis player has also managed to secure qualification to the final of the Madrid tennis tournament in 2012 and 2016. Last year she managed to win the trophy.

13 May 2017
May 12, UPDATE

CYBER ATTACK – The Romanian Intelligence Service announced on Friday that it had managed to counter an attempted cyber-attack against a Romanian governmental agency. The information comes after Romanian and foreign media announced that a group of elite hackers having ties with the Russian government masqueraded as NATO representatives to send phishing emails to diplomatic organisations in Europe, including the Romanian Foreign Ministry. Experts identified the emails as having been sent by a group known to the cyber defence community as APT28. According to the US intelligence community, APT28 has been actively involved in political espionage activities in Europe over the past 10 years, and has collaborated with Russian intelligence services.

VACCINATION – The PM of Romania, Sorin Grindeanu, Friday requested the immediate set up of a task force made up of representatives of the Government, of professional associations, of civil society, which should find immediate solutions to the vaccine crisis in Romania and prevent similar occurrences in the future. The task force will have a clearly defined role, which includes the drafting of legislation which would allow, in the short run, the procurement of the required vaccines, and in the medium run to ensure predictable and steady vaccine stocks. In turn, the Healthcare Minister, Florian Bodog, said he would propose the establishment of a Vaccination Programme Management Unit within the ministry. This structure will be tasked with the timely and constant procurement of vaccines. The vaccine crisis is a recurrent problem in Romania, with shortages reported in hospitals and drug stores once every several months, although they certain vaccines are compulsory.

STRIKE – Air traffic controllers in Romania Friday were on a warning strike, guiding only one-third of the flights. The humanitarian, medical, search and rescue and the emergency flights were not affected. Air traffic controllers are primarily disgruntled with the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement for 2016-2017 and with the fact that hiring has been frozen, although since the conflict in Ukraine the number of flights in the Romanian air space has grown significantly. The latest strike of air traffic controllers took place in July 2015.

INVESTIGATION – The former Romanian MP Sebastian Ghita will be heard by the Supreme Court in Belgrade on May 19, in view of extradition, but the hearing will not be public, Serbias Supreme Court announced. Sebastian Ghita is detained in Serbia, after he was apprehended by the authorities on April 14. Bucharest requested the extradition of Ghita, who fled the country late last year, ahead of a hearing with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and one day before his parliamentary immunity expired. Sebastian Ghita was subject to a national search warrant, and on January 10 the Romanian Supreme Court ordered the issuing of a European arrest warrant. Ghita is tried in two corruption cases and prosecuted in another two.

MOLDOVA – The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova has a new president for the next 3 years, Tudor Pantaru. He has Romanian citizenship as well. Pantaru has been a judge with the Constitutional Court since 2013, and was a Deputy in Moldovas first democratic Parliament, in 1990-1994. He also served as the first ambassador and permanent representative of Moldova at the UN, and was one of the signatories of Moldovas Declaration of Independence. Pantaru held a number of international offices, including judge posts with the European Court for Human Rights and with the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2002. The pro-Russian President Igor Dodon was critical of the Constitutional Court employing citizens of foreign countries, and said the institution needed to be freed of people who support Moldovas union with Romania.

TENNIS – The best ranking Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep (8 WTA), Friday qualified into the final of the Madrid tournament, which has 5.4 million US dollars in total prize money. She defeated Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia, 22 WTA) in 2 sets, 6-2, 6-3. Halep will play against the winner of the match pitting Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia, 9 WTA) against Kristina Mladenovici (France, 17 WTA). Simona Halep also played the quarter-final of the doubles event in Madrid, together with Irina Begu, against Timea Babos (Hungary) / Andrea Hlavaskova (the Czech Republic), but were edged out of the competition.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

12 May 2017
December 17, 2016 UPDATE

COMMEMORATION – In the western Romanian city of Timişoara, ceremonies have begun, which commemorate 27 years since the start of the Revolution of December 1989, which brought down the communist regime. A day of mourning was observed on Saturday in the city, in memory of the around 100 heroes who died in Timisoara. Sparked by the locals opposition to an abusive measure of the city hall, the protests quickly spread across the country, culminating on December 22 with dictator Nicolae Ceausescus attempted escape. More than 1,000 people died and another 3,400 were wounded between December 16 and 25, 1989. Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country where the communist regime was overthrown in a violent manner and the communist leaders were executed.

PARLIAMENT – The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has announced that he will convene the new Parliament on December 20, and on December 21 and 22 he will have talks with the representatives of political parties. This week the head of state has had a first round of consultations with the political parties that will be part of the new parliament further to last Sundays elections. He discussed with the representatives of the National Liberal Party, Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, Peoples Movement Party and the group of ethnic minorities. The Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania, who will make up the new parliamentary majority, declined the invitation, on grounds of procedural flaws, but said they would talk with the President after the new Parliament was validated.

LEGISLATION – The bill drafted by the Social Democratic Party on the scrapping of 102 charges and fees, including the radio and television license fee, will be sent back to Parliament for review. President Klaus Iohannis made this decision on the same day that the Constitutional Court announced the bill did not come against the Constitution. The Presidents move triggered the discontent of the Social Democratic leader, Liviu Dragnea, the initiator of the bill. Dragnea vowed not to give up the elimination of the respective charges, and said the bill would once again be pushed through Parliament.

US-RUSSIA – US President Barack Obama said his country would respond to the cyber-attacks launched by Russia during the presidential election campaign in November. The American authorities say they have evidence that hackers linked to Kremlin broke into the email accounts of members of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clintons team, to help the campaign of Republican candidate Donald Trump. Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin, President Obama told a press conference, virtually confirming the view that Russian President Putin was personally involved in the attempts to hack into the computers of the National Democratic Committee. Russia denied the accusations.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

17 December 2016
December 17, 2016

COMMEMORATION – In the western Romanian city of Timişoara, ceremonies have been organised to commemorate 27 years since the start of the Revolution of December 1989, which brought down the communist regime. A day of mourning is observed on Saturday in the city, in memory of the heroes who died in Timisoara. Sparked by the locals opposition to an abusive measure of the city hall, the protests quickly spread across the country, culminating on December 22 with dictator Nicolae Ceausescus attempted escape. More than 1,000 people died and another 3,400 were wounded between December 16 and 25, 1989. Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country where the communist regime was overthrown in a violent manner and the communist leaders were executed.

DISPUTE – The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the issue of the Romanian gold reserve had a significant historical component and that it was first and foremost something for a bilateral team of historians to deal with. According to the Russian diplomacy, historical issues, including the matter of the gold reserve, were not covered by the Russian-Romanian Treaty, and a joint team of historians was tasked with researching the issue. The Russian authorities say the interim findings of this committee are to be presented at a meeting held in Moscow next year. The Russian Foreign Ministry made these clarifications after Mugur Isarescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, said Russia was still to return to Romania the gold reserve sent for safekeeping in the Russian Empire 100 years ago. According to the archive of the central bank, in 1916 and 1917 Romania sent to Moscow 1,926 cases containing gold coins and bars, as well as cases of jewellery belonging to Queen Marie.

DEFENCE – The Romanian authorities are making progress in identifying another 12 aicraft to be included in the equipment of the Romanian Air Forces, but talks with the representatives of the country that produces these devices must first be held, the Romanian Defence Minister Mihnea Motoc said on Friday at Air Base 86, Borcea. He answered a question regarding the acquisition of a new squadron of F-16 fighters. In 2013, Romania decided to purchase 12 used F-16 aircraft from Portugal, but according to experts the country needs 48 multirole planes, that is, another 4 squadrons.

LEGISLATION – The bill drafted by the Social Democratic Party on the scrapping of 102 charges and fees, including the radio and television license fee, will be sent back to Parliament for review. President Klaus Iohannis made this decision on the same day that the Constitutional Court announced the bill did not come against the Constitution. The Presidents move triggered the discontent of the Social Democratic leader, Liviu Dragnea, the initiator of the bill. Dragnea vowed not to give up the elimination of the respective charges, and said the bill would once again be pushed through Parliament.

US-RUSSIA – US President Barack Obama said his country would respond to the cyber-attacks launched by Russia during the presidential election campaign in November. The American authorities say they have evidence that hackers linked to Kremlin broke into the email accounts of members of the Democratic candidate Hillary Clintons team, to help the campaign of Republican candidate Donald Trump. Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin, President Obama told a press conference, virtually confirming the view that Russian President Putin was personally involved in the attempts to hack into the computers of the National Democratic Committee. Russia denied the accusations.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)

17 December 2016
January 15, 2016

NATIONAL CULTURE DAY – A host of literary events, exhibitions and music shows are being held today in Bucharest and other big cities across Romania and abroad, to mark National Culture Day. The Romanian Academy hosted a solemn session, and the Romanian Athenaeum will venue a traditional music concert given by folk singer Grigore Lese and friends. Homage paying events will also be held in Chishinau, the capital city of the Republic of Moldova, a country with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, where National Culture Day is also celebrated today, as well as in the Cernauti/Chernivtsi region in Ukraine, which is home to over 200,000 ethnic Romanians.

MOLDOVA– The President of the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, Nicolae Timofti, has said he doesnt favour the idea of holding snap elections, but avoiding this depends only on MPs. He has made this declaration shortly after designating the head of the Presidential Administration, Ion Paduraru, as candidate for the position of Prime Minister. The deadline for a new cabinet to get endorsement is January 29, when its three months since the sacking of the cabinet led by Liberal Democrat Valeriu Strelet, following a censure motion. Otherwise, the countrys president will have to dissolve Parliament and call for snap elections. The President of neighbouring Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has deemed as very complicated the political situation in the Republic of Moldova and has said he counts on the maturity of the political class in Moldova to solve the crisis, instate a strong government and continue the countrys EU rapprochment.

ECONOMY– Romanias economy registered a 3.7% growth rate in the first nine months of 2015, as compared to the same period of 2014, data released by the National Institute for Statistics show. Also, in real terms, the GDP registered in the third quarter of 2015 was 1.4% higher than in the second quarter of the same year. The National Forecast Commission has revised upward, to 3.6%, the estimated increase in the GDP in 2015 and maintained to 4.1% the estimated economic growth rate in 2016, according to the autumn version of the Long-Term Forecast, made public in November.

CYBER ATTACKS– Cyber attacks against Romania have been launched over the past year from Russia and China, the Romanian Intelligence Service has today announced. According to the agency, national security structures of the Foreign, Interior and Defence Ministries, respectively, and 11 banks have been the favourite targets of cyber attacks. The intelligence has been collected by the Cyberint National Centre, a unit of the Romanian Intelligence Service with responsibilities in protecting Internet, communication and infrastructure systems of strategic importance.

WATER POLO– Romanias national water polo team is today meeting Germany, in a decisive group stage match, to qualify for the next phase of the European Championships, hosted by Serbia. Romania needs at least a draw match to advance to the next stage of the competition. In the first two group matches, Romania won to Georgia, 12-6, and lost to Italy, 11–5. If the team manages to rank among the first 10 best performing teams, it also qualifies for the pre-Olympic tournament.

TENNIS– Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, WTAs no.2, has today failed to qualify for the finals of the Sydney tournament, with some 700,000 dollars in prize money up for grabs. Halep was defeated, in three sets, by Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the mens double, the pair Florin Mergea/Rohan Bopanna (Romanian/India) has qualified for the finals, after defeating, in two sets, the pair Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)/Leonardo Mayer (Argentina). Mergea and Bopanna will face in the finals the pair Jamie Murray (Great Britain)/ Bruno Soares (Brasil). In another move, Romania will have five representatives – Simona Halep, Irina Begu, Monica Niculescu, Alexandra Dulgheru and Andreea Mitu at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which starts in Melbourne next week.

(Translated and edited by Diana Vijeu)

15 January 2016