Radio România Internațional

Tag: Drill

September 20, 2021 UPDATE

COVID-19 The COVID certificate has become mandatory
in Romania as of Monday for participants in various indoor events in all areas with
an infection rate between 3 and 6 per thousand. The green pass proves the
holder has been fully vaccinated, recovered from the disease or tested
negative, and grants access to indoor events like theatre and cinema shows,
sporting competitions, weddings or baptism ceremonies. Children under 6 are
exempt. Authorities in Bucharest Monday announced 3,342 new infections out of
over 21,000 tests conducted. 78 new Covid-related fatalities were also reported,
while 952 patients are presently in ICUs. Over 100 towns and villages in
Romania have infection rates of over 3 per thousand. Only 19 beds are currently
available nation-wide for COVID patients, except for those set aside for people
with certain medical conditions and testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. According
to the Strategic Communication Group, the capital city Bucharest has no more
beds available at the moment.

DRILL As of Monday, almost
400 troops from Romania, Portugal and Poland with over 65 pieces of military
equipment are participating in a drill called Green Scorpions 21.3 hosted by
the National Training Centre ‘Getica’ close to Brasov, in central Romania.
According to sources with the Defence Ministry, the drill’s main goal is the
joint training of troops, raising the level of interoperability between NATO
members as well as the setting up of some joint battle techniques, tactics and
procedures for the successful accomplishment of missions. The command is
provided by infantry battalion 22 jointly with Portuguese and Polish detachments.

ELECTION The Foreign
Ministry in Bucharest has announced it does not recognize the legitimacy of the
election for the Russian Parliament held in the annexed region of Crimea. The
Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reiterated its support for the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighboring Ukraine, recalling that
Romania does not recognize the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of
Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by Moscow. Bucharest also notes with regret
that Russia has opened polling stations in Transdniester against the will of
the constitutional authorities in Chisinau, a fact that runs against the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova. According to
the Central Electoral Commission, president Putin’s party, United Russia, is
preserving its majority in the State Duma following the parliamentary election
held for three days. United Russia got around 50% of the votes, but this
accounts for over 300 of the 450 seats in Russia’s parliament, allowing the
party to pass laws and implement reforms with no support from other political
forces. Second came the Communist Party with some 19% of the votes. The
nationalist LDPR party and the Fair Russia party also got into parliament,
alongside a new party called New People, seen by some as a Kremlin project
designed to divide Putin’s opponents.

MEETING The
Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, and the country’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan
Aurescu Monday attended the 76th session of the UN General Assembly
in New York. For the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the
event has been attended in person by heads of state and governments of UN
countries. Romania’s participation at the highest level in the UN sessions
reconfirms Bucharest’s support for pragmatic and effective multilateral
diplomacy as a landmark of Romania’s foreign policy, as well as the Romanian
contribution to international and UN activities. On the sidelines of the event
in New York, the country’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu will be attending a
number of multilateral meetings. According to the Foreign Ministry in
Bucharest, special attention will be paid to bilateral meetings with
counterparts from countries in the Caucasus, Central, East and South Asia, the
Middle East, Africa and the Pacific area. (tr. A.M. Popescu, D. Bilt)

20 September 2021
August 5, 2021

Covid Ro ▪ Secretary of state with the Romanian Interior Ministry, Raed Arafat, insists on the population’s vaccination and wearing protective masks to reduce the risk of infection with the novel coronavirus. Invited in Radio Romania’s studios, he explained that the risk of an increasing number of cases daily is real, but everyone can help limit the spread of the virus. Raed Arafat pointed out that no new restrictions are being considered, and reminded that if the threshold of 2 cases per thousand inhabitants was exceeded, the rules in force before August 1 would be re-applied, and if the threshold of 3 cases per thousand inhabitants is exceeded, the measures will be tightened. Meanwhile, the number of new cases of coronavirus is growing. On Thursday, 244 new cases were reported out of over 28,000 tests. At the same time, 2 deaths were reported. 72 people are hospitalized in intensive care. The UK has included Romania on the green list of countries with epidemiological risk, which means that Romanians traveling to the UK will no longer have to be quarantined, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. However, the Romanian citizens who travel to the UK must present a negative PCR test performed before entering the territory of this country and need to take a second test two days after arrival. The measure takes effect on Sunday.

COVID world ▪ Covid cases worldwide exceeded 200 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report, as the more contagious Delta variant is threatening the areas with low vaccination rates and precarious healthcare systems. The global increase in Covid cases highlights the difference between vaccination rates in rich and poor countries. According to Reuters, the number of cases is on the rise in about a third of the worlds countries, many of which have not vaccinated even half of the population with a first dose. The World Health Organization is calling for a postponement of the administration of a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, at least until the end of September, so as not to widen the gap between vaccination campaigns in rich and poor countries. Meanwhile, in some European countries, such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the number of new cases of COVID-19 is decreasing, while in others the 4th wave of the pandemic is in full development.

Exercise ▪ More than 350 military divers from Romania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, the US and Ukraine are participating in a multinational training exercise off the Romanian Black Sea Coast. The “Eurasian Partnership MCM Dive” exercise, which will last 4 days, is led by the Diving Center 39 within the Romanian Navy. The Romanian Navy also participates in the drill with the “Vice Admiral Constantin Bălescu” minesweeper ship, the “Captain Commander Alexandru Cătuneanu” Hydrographic Maritime Ship, as well as with an autonomous underwater vehicle. Ukraine participates with the rescue and recovery tug “Oleksandr Okhrimenko”. The purpose of the exercise is to consolidate the skills of military divers and to develop the participants’ interoperability in two domains, namely searching, identifying and destroying mines in historic mine dams and underwater activities with hydraulic tools.

Fires ▪ The heat wave persists in several European countries, which have been fighting vegetation fires for more than several days. The authorities are on alert in Greece, where flames threatened the capital Athens on Wednesday. In Turkey, the damage is huge, and a thermal plant threatened by flames has been evacuated. Forest fires are spreading also in Bulgaria, where two forest rangers have died and a third one has been injured. Italy, Albania and northern Macedonia are also facing fires. The European Commission has said it will send planes, helicopters and firefighters to Italy, Greece, Albania and northern Macedonia to help these countries fight the fires.

Talks ▪ Romanias ambassador to the United States, Andrei Muraru, stressed the importance of strengthening security of NATOs Eastern Flank, during a phone conversation with Jake Sullivan, US National Security Adviser, together with the ambassadors to Washington of the Bucharest-9 Format states, the Romanian Embassy in the US announced on Thursday on its Facebook page. The phone conversation was meant to consult NATO allies on US policies and activities of interest to the region. The Bucharest Format is an initiative launched by the presidents of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, and of Poland, Andrzej Duda, which includes NATO member states on the Eastern Flank participate: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. The American president Joe Biden also participated online in the summit organized in May this year in Bucharest.

Meeting ▪ The Romanian government is meeting today for its weekly session. High on the executives agenda is the Emergency Ordinance repealing an article from a law regarding the impossibility of electricity and natural gas suppliers to cut off or disconnect bad payers during the state of alert period. The law established that disconnection could be done after the state of alert ended, but the Government wants to repeal this provision because they realized that the failure to collect money from final customers was felt by all parties involved in the processes of electricity and natural gas production and supply in Romania. The executive also discusses a decision that completes the methodological norms of the SME Invest program. This law is necessary because regulation is needed for some situations related to certain terms, to areas that can be supported through SME Invest and to areas that cannot be supported through this program. (LS)

5 August 2021
JUNE 28, 2021 UPDATE

COVID-19 Romania announced only 37 new COVID infections on Monday after
over 10,700 tests had been carried out. Only one person died and 86 patients
are being treated in intensive care. No new cases have been reported in the
past 24 hours in 17 out of Romania’s 41 counties. Authorities say this positive
development became possible due to the stepped out vaccine rollout, which is
the only solution to overcoming the crisis. Only 17 thousand people have been
vaccinated in the past 24 hours and since the rollout kicked off in late
December 4.7 million Romanians have been vaccinated, which accounts for roughly
25 % of the eligible population. Others have got immunity after having suffered
from the disease. Seven hospitals in Romania are to receive robots donated by
the European Commission used in the disinfection of hospital wards. These
machines use ultraviolet light and can disinfect over 18 wards on a single
charge. The government in Bucharest has approved new relaxation measures, due
to come into effect on July 1st. The EU Digital COVID Certificate is to become
available online on the same date.

DRILL Over 300 servicemen of the Romanian Navy
are participating until July 10th in the multinational drill ‘Sea
Breeze 21’. The drill has been staged jointly by the US Navy and Ukraine in the
international Black Sea waters and in the ground training facilities near Odessa.
Romanian corvette, ‘Rear Admiral Horia Macelariu’ is already in the port of
Odessa together with other foreign war vessels. Romania’s frigate Queen Marie,
which has a Navy Puma helicopter on board is also to join the exercise. Two
cadets of the Admiral Ion Murgescu Navy School will be on board of a US
destroyer during the exercise to undergo training under the guidance of the US
sailors.

ELECTION Local
by-elections took place on Sunday in six cities and 30 villages around Romania,
where the voter turnout was over 50%. Some of the mayor seats remained vacant
after the winners of last September’s elections passed away, gave up their
mayor seats to stand for Parliament or had problems with the law. The Social
Democratic Party in opposition won the largest number of mayor seats, namely
18, another 14 went to the ruling coalition formed by the National Liberal
Party, the Save Romania Union-PLUS Alliance and the Democratic Union of Ethnic
Hungarians in Romania, 3 went to independent candidates and one to the People’s
Movement Party. The interior ministry said 10 persons are currently investigated
for possible criminal acts, including voter corruption, electoral fraud, voter
suppression and breach of voting secrecy.

VOTE The two-chamber
Parliament in Bucharest will vote on Tuesday on the first no-confidence motion
filed by the Social Democratic opposition against the coalition government. The
initiators of the motion accuse the government led by Liberal Florin Cîţu of
inefficiency, of taking the country into the wrong direction, and of pushing
the country’s economy to the brink of disaster and blame it for the drop in
living standards. The failure of the vaccination campaign and of the National
Recovery and Resilience Plan are also on the list of complaints. The prime
minister described the accusations as unfounded, while the leader of the
National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban said the coalition decided that its MPs
would attend the debates but would not vote on the motion.

(bill)

28 June 2021
August 3, 2020 UPDATE

Coronavirus RO – Romania has gone beyond the threshold of 54 thousand confirmed coronavirus infections since the outbreak of the virus, almost 5 months ago. The death toll has increased to 2,432. The number of active cases has also reached a new record, passing 18,400, while 419 patients are in intensive care. The Romanian health ministry announced on Monday that Romania would receive over 25 thousand Remdesivir vials, in 3 installments, to treat some of the patients infected with the new coronavirus, under a contract concluded by the EC with the producer. Under this contract worth 63 million Euros, treatment will be provided to almost 30 thousand patients within the EU who show severe Covid-19 symptoms. In another move, also on Monday, the National Public Health Institute published the updated list of countries with a high epidemiological risk. The persons arriving in Romania from these countries will be quarantined for 14 days either at their homes or at a location these persons declare or in a space especially designated by the authorities. The list includes 41 states and can be accessed on the Institute’s website.

Save the Children — An entire generation of children from around the world have no longer went to school for the first time in the history of modern education because of the Covid-19 pandemic — the Save the Children Romania NGO shows, according to which the marginalized children have been the most vulnerable. In Romania, almost half of the pupils (47%) have had limited access to online education during the isolation measures, as they were not connected to the Internet, had no tablets or computers. By launching a campaign called ‘I want to go to school’, the NGO has called on local and central authorities to take concrete measures to correct and prevent similar situations given that a new school year will begin in mid September. The NGO has come up with a set of measures among which providing the necessary educational tools for distance learning for all the kids that need them, training the teachers to give online lessons as well as preparing all the schools to be able to provide medical safety and physical distancing so as children could learn in decent and secure conditions.

Drill — As many as 200 marines from Romania, Bulgaria and the US are training until August 7 as part of the 11th edition of the Eurasian Partnership Mine Countermeasure Dive 2020 multinational drill hosted by the Romanian Navy. The drill is meant to counteract underwater threats, the planned drills focusing on the search, detection, neutralization and destruction of mines at sea. This is the only annual multinational exercise held in the Black Sea basin meant to consolidate the training of the NATO countries military divers. (L. Simion)

3 August 2020
October 16, 2019 UPDATE

Turkey — The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Thursday with the American vice- president Mike Pence who is heading the US official delegation on a visit to Ankara, in an attempt to obtain a ceasefire in northern Syria, the Turkish presidential administration announced on Wednesday, according to France Press. Erdogan had previously announced that the American officials would only have talks with their Turkish counterparts. The Kremlin announced that the Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan about the Syrian conflict and invited him to visit Russia in the next few days. The two leaders underlined the need for preventing a conflict between the Turkish and Syrian units in northern Syria where Ankara started an offensive. The US announced the pullout of the 1,000 US soldiers still deployed in that area, but pointed out that it would keep the 150- strong Al-Tanf garrison at the border with Jordan. One week ago Ankara launched an offensive targeting the Kurdish militias People’s Protection Units YPG, an ally of the West in the anti-Jihadist fight.

Strasbourg — The European Parliament on Wednesday postponed the vote for validating the future EC headed by Ursula von der Leyen. The vote had been scheduled initially for October 23 during next week’s plenary session of the EP in Strasbourg. The vote was postponed as the candidates for European Commissioner of Romania, Hungary and France were rejected during the validation process within the EP on grounds of conflict of interest or ethical problems. Ursula von der Leyen and her team were to start their mandate on November 1 but the rejection of the 3 candidates put it on hold.

Exercise — The ‘Rear Admiral Horia Macellariu corvette is participating from October 15 to 17 in a drill in the Serpents’ Island area and in the Black Sea international waters together with the Pryluky missile carrier from Ukraine and the American destroyer USS ‘Porter’, the Romanian Navy Staff officials announced, adding that the 3- party exercise contributes to the consolidation of the partnership between Ukraine and the NATO member states in the naval forces domain. (update by L. Simion)

16 October 2019
June 10, 2019 UPDATE

MINISTERS The new ministers of Justice, European Funds and of the Romanians
All Over the World, were sworn in on Monday in the presence of Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis. At the end of last week, president Iohannis signed
the decrees through which Ana Birchall was appointed Justice Minister, Roxana
Manzatu became Minister of European Funds and Natalia Intotero took over the
Ministry for the Romanians All Over the World. Iohannis turned down a proposal
that Titus Corlatean took over the seat of Deputy Prime Minister for the
Implementation of Strategic Partnerships, so far held by Ana Birchall and
called on Prime Minister Viorica Dancila to nominate somebody else for that
position. The president blames Corlatean for the disastrous situation in the
2014 election, when he was Romania’s Foreign Minister and tens of thousands
Romanians from abroad were unable to cast their ballot.

GOVERNMENT The first meeting of the government of the Republic of Moldova,
an ex-Soviet Romanian-speaking country, led by pro-European Maia Sandu, took
place on Monday in spite of the Constitutional Court having invalidated the new
cabinet’s investiture. Two high-ranking officials, including the police chief
were sacked during the aforementioned meeting. In another development Maia
Sandu has given assurances the government will succeed in unblocking foreign
funding, particularly from the EU. The government meeting was hosted by
Parliament because the members of the fresh cabinet have been denied access to
the government building, which is presently controlled by the incumbent Prime
Minister Pavel Filip, who is continuing his activity defying the latest
Parliament decisions, including the investiture of the new cabinet. The
Democratic Party has invited all Parliamentary parties to a political dialogue,
mainly the Socialist Party and the ACUM bloc with a view to identifying
solutions for overcoming the present political crisis. A close ally of the
controversial politician and businessman Vladimir Plahotniuc and designated by
the Court to take over the prerogatives of the country’s president from the
pro-Russian leader Igor Dodon, Pavel Filip announced the dismantling of
Parliament and called for snap election in September.

TALKS Romania’s minister delegate for
European affairs, George Ciamba, on Monday held talks with Gent Cakaj, the
incumbent minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania during the
latter’s visit to Romania. The two ministers reviewed the stage of Albania’s
preparations for opening accession negotiations with the EU, the bilateral
relations between the two countries and the latest developments in the Western
Balkans. George Ciamba reiterated Romania’s staunch support for Albania’s EU
accession announcing Romania’s readiness to assist Tirana in the accession process.

DRILL Around
8,000 military from six countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Romania, Hungary and the US) are taking part until the 24th of June
in the Saber Guardian 2019 multinational exercise. The exercise is led by US
Army Europe and the Romanian Land Forces and is hosted by Bulgaria, Romania and
Hungary. Its main aim is to highlight the cohesion, unity and solidarity
between partner and allied states in the face of any possible form of
aggression, in particular through rapid mobilisation and deployment of troops
anywhere in Europe. Shooting exercises are held at the shooting ranges in
Cincu, Borduşani, Babadag, Smârdan and Râşnov.

(translated by bill)

10 June 2019
Zur Geschichte der rumänischen Fallschirmjäger: harter Drill mit deutscher Ausrüstung

Die rumänische Fallschirmjägertruppe entstand im Jahr 1941, während des Zweiten Weltkrieges; 1944 wurde sie aber auf Forderung des Alliierten Kontrollrates und der Sowjetunion abgeschafft. 1950 wurde diese Truppengattung wieder ins Leben gerufen und ist seitdem ein fester Bestandteil der rumänischen Streitkräfte. Gheorghe Angelescu war einer der ersten jungen Leute, die der rumänischen Fallschirmjägertruppe beigetreten waren. 1997 gab der ehemalige Soldat dem Zentrum für mündlich überlieferte Geschichte des Rumänischen Rundfunks ein Interview. Gheorghe Angelescu:

Als junger Mann fand ich die Idee, Fallschirmjäger zu werden, hochinteressant, aber von dieser interessanten Idee bis zur Wirklichkeit gab es noch einen langen Weg, da ich damals noch zu jung war, ich erfüllte nicht die Altersvorschrift. Ich kannte aber einen Adjutanten im Kriegsministerium, er war unser Nachbar. Ohne es meinen Eltern zu sagen, ging ich zu ihm und sagte, meine Mutter würde ihn bitten, mir zu helfen, der Fallschirmjägertruppe beizutreten. Er sagte, ich sollte ihm meine Geburtsurkunde und einen Antrag auf Befreiung von der Altersbegrenzung bringen, die er beim Ministerium einreichen würde. Ich war damals noch Schüler, ich besuchte das Gymnasium. Bald erhielt ich die Ausnahmegenehmigung und am 1. November 1943 stieg ich in den Zug, der mich zum Trainingsquartier im Pantelimon-Wald, im Osten Bukarests, brachte. Das war eine alte Fesselballon-Einheit, die nicht mehr benutzt wurde; es gab gar keine Ballons mehr dort.“

Das harte Ausbildungsprogram für Fallschirmjäger enthielt sowohl theoretische Kurse als auch praktische Übungen. Gheorghe Angelescu dazu:

Neben dem normalen militärischen Training mit Waffenübungen usw. mussten wir sehr viel Sport treiben, um fit zu werden und fit zu bleiben. Wir hatten auch viele Sonderübungen im Wald, mitten in der Nacht. Wir mussten uns an die Dunkelheit gewöhnen — mit der Zeit glaubte ich, besser in der Nacht zu sehen als am Tage. Es gab sehr oft Nachtübungen — im Winter oder im Sommer wurden wir mitten in der Nacht aus dem sü‎ßesten Schlaf gerissen und auf Orientierungsmärsche in den Wald geschickt. Da unsere Ausbildung im November begonnen hatte, hatten wir die meisten Übungen im Winter. Das waren lange Märsche von 15 bis 20 Km, mit voller Kriegsausrüstung. Wir hatten eine Beretta-Maschinenpistole und ein militärisches Messer — wir übten stundenlang damit. Wir hatten aber auch spezielle Kampfstiefel mit Dreischicht-Sohlen, Leder-Beinwärmer und gute, warme Socken.“

Ein wichtiger Teil des Ausbildungsprograms waren selbstverständlich die Fallschirmsprünge. Gheorghe Angelescu erinnert sich:

Im Sommer 1944 machten wir die ersten Fallschirmsprünge unter der Führung der Militärs, die das Training in der ersten Serie abgeschlossen hatten. Nach drei Fallschirmsprüngen erhielt man den Fallschirmjäger-Schein und wurde zum Feldwebel befördert. Diejenigen, die in der ersten Serie die Ausbildung abgeschlosen hatten, waren nun Feldwebel und sie haben uns die Hölle hei‎ß gemacht. Wenn ich im Nachhinein daran denke, hat uns das harte Training nicht geschadet, aber was haben wir damals geflucht! Bis zum 23. August 1944 hatten wir bereits 8 Fallschirmsprünge aus unserem alten Junkers gemacht. Jeder von uns hatte einen einzigen Fallschirm, und wir mu‎ßten ihn ganz genau falten. Monatelang haben wir Fallschirm-Falten geübt, es ging nicht anders. Unser Leben hing davon ab. Die Übungen ohne Fallschirm waren auch ziemlich hart, wir sprangen aus einem Holzturm in eine Sandgrube. Wir sind sogar aus 5 Metern Höhe ohne Fallschirm gesprungen. Im Sommer 1944 war ich bei meinen Gro‎ßeltern, und sie haben mich gebeten, das Dach zu reparieren. Als ich fertig war, sprang ich einfach vom Dach hinunter. Alle waren verblüfft, sie schlugen das Kreuzzeichen, aber für mich war es ganz normal, ich war an solchen Sprüngen gewöhnt.“

Nach 1944 beschlagnahmte die sowjetische Armee die gesamte deutsche Ausrüstung, und die Fallschirmjägertruppe wurde abgeschafft. Gheorge Angelescu dazu:

Man hat uns das alte Junkers-Flugzeug weggenommen — es war ein deutsches Fabrikat und wurde zur Kriegsbeute. Die Fallschirme, die deutschen Maschinenpistolen, alles, was deutsch war, wurde als Kriegsbeute von der sowjetischen Armee weggebracht. Ich habe keine Ahnung, was sie mit unserem alten Junkers gemacht haben, es war ziemlich klapprig, aber was soll’s, im Krieg wird eben alles verwendet. Es war gut genug für uns gewesen und es kam bestimmt auch anderen Soldaten zunutze.“

8 January 2018