Radio România Internațional

Tag: Russian

  • September 12, 2024

    September 12, 2024

    RCA Romania has the most expensive civil liability insurance for car owners, RCA, in the region, roughly 220 Euros, although compensations have dropped by 9% – representatives of the Confederation of Authorized Operators and Transporters, COTAR, say. According to them the average RCA prices in Bulgaria is around 100 Euros, in Hungary 98 Euros and in Poland 120. COTAR representatives are blaming the situation on the Financial Supervisory Authority, whose representatives say the institution cannot intervene on the RCA price, which is based upon statistical data regarding compensations and damages paid in road accidents in the past years and other risk criteria.

     

    STRIKE The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has issued heads-up for the Romanians traveling to Belgium that a 24-hour strike has been announced on the Charleroi Airport, which is expected to cripple the airport’s operational capabilities. A series of flights are being cancelled and passengers are advised to check online the lists posted by various airlines. According to a communiqué issued by the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest, Romania’s embassy in Brussels has made available a hot line for the Romanian citizens in difficult, special and emergency situations.

     

    HANDBALL The Romanian handball champions, Dinamo Bucharest, are making their debut tonight in the EHF Champions League in a match against the Danish vice-champions Fredericia HK. Dinamo was included in the Champions League’s Group A and it avoided the finalists of the recently ended season, the champion side Barcelona and the team which lost the finals Aalborg Handbold. The Romanian side will be up against Fuchse Berlin, Sporting Lisbon, Paris Saint-Germain Handball as well as Veszprem HC, presently coached by its former headcoach Xavi Pascual. In the women’s contests, Romania is being represented by three sides, which already played their first matches last weekend. The Romanian derby Gloria Bistrita versus CSM Bucharest ended 30-26 to Bistrita, while Rapid Bucharst secured a 32-27 home win against the double European champions Buducnost Podgorica.

     

    LAW Parliament in Bucharest on Wednesday tackled some law amendments aimed at enabling the army to annihilate the suspect drones entering Romania’s territory. The talks involved the participation of MPs and representatives of the Ministry of Defence. Romanian MPs believe that some legislative amendments are needed in order to improve the response capabilities when unauthorized or suspect drones are entering the Romanian airspace. The talks were held after several Russian drones had entered the Romanian airspace in the past year on their way to targets in the neighboring Ukraine.

     

    WEATHER In Romania’s northeastern and eastern regions temperatures are normal for this time of the year, whereas in the rest of the territory the weather is warm. Showers and thunderstorms are expected in most regions in the country’s east and north-east and on isolated areas in the north and center. The highs of the day are expected between 20 and 31 degrees Celsius with a noon reading in Bucharest of 21 degrees and a high of 29 degrees Celsius.

    (bill)

     

  • September 11, 2023

    September 11, 2023

    School — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced that the issue of drug consumption among young people will be included on the agenda of the next meeting of the country’s Supreme Council of National Defense. Attending today the opening of the new pre-university year at a school in Bucharest, he has emphasized that this phenomenon represents a serious challenge to national security. Klaus Iohannis has also said that he continues to support the increase in teachers salaries as of January 1, 2024. He has given assurances that he remains firm and will support all measures to make the commitments made by the Government this summer come true. The new school year started, today, in Romania, for approximately 3 million pupils and preschoolers. It will have 36 weeks of courses, and it is organized in five modules, just like the previous one. “The Green Week” and “Doing School Differently” will take place between September 11, 2023 – April 26, 2024 and can be set by schools in any of modules 1, 2, 3 or 4, in intervals of 5 consecutive working days. The school year will end on June 21, 2024. The pupils entering the 5th grade will be the first to take an additional high school entrance exam in the summer of 2027.



    Drone — The Romanian Defense Ministry announced that the presence of drone fragments in a different area than those investigated previously was not confirmed. The armed forces remain on alert and will continue investigations in the areas of the national territory located in the vicinity of the areas where the Russians are carrying out attacks on the Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube, the Defense Ministry announced on Sunday. According to the quoted source, in the last 48 hours, forces and equipment of the Naval Forces, the Land Forces and other structures acted with research teams in the field and with aerial surveillance devices on an area of ​​more than 80 square kilometers in three localities of Tulcea and Galati counties, on the Romanian bank of the Danube, near the port of Reni in Ukraine. On the other hand, the Defense Ministry strongly condemns the attacks carried out by the Russian Federation against some objectives and elements of civil infrastructure in the Ukrainian ports on the Danube. These attacks are unjustified and in serious violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, being war crimes, the Defense Ministry emphasizes. Previously, the chargé daffaires of the Russian Federation Embassy in Bucharest was urgently summoned to the Foreign Ministry where he was informed that Romania protests the violation of Romanias airspace. NATO, through Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, expressed its solidarity with Romania. The official stated that there are no indications of Russia’s intention to attack NATO, but that the attacks are destabilizing.



    Volleyball — Today, the Romanian national team faces France, the defending Olympic champion, in the quarter-finals of the European Mens Volleyball Championship. The Romanians reached this stage after a dramatic victory over Croatia. Romania also met France in the groups stage, managing to defeat it surprisingly, score 3-1. The national volleyball team has not been among the top eight teams of the continent for 40 years, after finishing on 8th place in 1983. The European Championship takes place in Israel, Italy, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. The record of the Romanian players includes a European title, two silver and two bronze medals.



    Exercise — The Romanian and US Naval Forces are jointly organizing, as of Monday until Friday, September 15, a multinational exercise called Sea Breeze. It will take place in the area of ​​responsibility of the Romanian Naval Forces in the Black Sea and the Danube Delta and aims to develop teamwork between the participating countries in the field of combating explosive devices, especially sea mines, so that navigation can take place freely. Soldiers from Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, France and the UK are also taking part in the exercise.



    Rowing – Romania won five medals, of which two gold, at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, and finished the competition on fourth place in the overall ranking. The gold was won by the womens double scull team and the women’s eight plus one. The Romanian rowers won one silver and two bronze medals. Also, 11 of the 13 Romanian crews that participated in the world championships in Serbia qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.



    Earthquake – Rescue teams from Morocco, supported by colleagues abroad, continue to race against time to find survivors and provide aid to hundreds of people left homeless after Friday nights earthquake, which killed more than 2,100 people and wounded more than 2,400, according to the most recent official toll. Four countries received favorable answers to their aid offers: Great Britain, Spain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced that, from the information it has, there are no Romanians among the victims of the earthquake in Morocco. (LS)

  • May 15, 2023 UPDATE

    May 15, 2023 UPDATE

    MIG-21 On Monday Romania retired its aging Russian-made
    MIG-21 LanceR fighters it inherited from the communist regime and replaced them
    with more modern F-16s. The measure is part of the process of strengthening of
    NATO’s eastern flank, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Romania now relies
    on 17 second-hand F-16s purchased from Portugal. We recall that in November
    last year the government in Bucharest signed a contract with Norway for another
    batch of 32 F-16 fighters. A NATO member since 2004, Romania also wants to buy
    the latest generation of F-35 fighters but experts believe this expensive
    project will become reality in years. The total number of MIG 21 fighters
    Romania has is secret but according to unofficial estimates it somewhere around
    25. However, the communist Romania boasted nearly 400 of these famous Russian
    fighters. According to Romania’s Defence Ministry, 30 Mig-21s sustained damage
    in various flight incidents between 1991 and 2022.






    STRIKE The SANITAS trade union
    federation is gathering signatures in order to call for an all-out strike in
    the country’s healthcare and social assistance systems, starting June 15.
    Representatives of the federation believe that, in spite of the pressure put by
    the authorities, the laws governing wages in the area are not applied in full.
    They also claim that there are still categories of employees who have not been
    properly compensated, and the line authorities show no real intention to comply
    with the legislation.






    VISIT President Klaus Iohannis is
    taking part on Tuesday and Wednesday in Reykjavik, Iceland, in the fourth
    summit of the Council of Europe. The meeting comes against the background of
    the Russian invasion in Ukraine, and the council was one of the first
    international institutions to react, by excluding the Russian Federation as a
    member, according to the Presidential Administration in Bucharest. The summit
    will inaugurate an international registry of damage caused by the Russian
    invasion, and Romania will be a founding member state. This event has a special
    significance for Romania, as this year is the thirtieth since it joined the
    organization.


    LAWS The draft education laws were submitted to
    the Senate’s special committees, on Monday, which are expected to issue an
    opinion. The laws are expected to be debated in the Education Committee on
    Tuesday. A final vote on the education laws is scheduled for May 22 in the
    Senate, the decision-making body in this case. According to Education Minister Ligia
    Deca, the laws seek to prevent and combat school dropout and functional
    illiteracy, to implement a pupil-oriented education, to ensure safety in
    schooling units and provide teachers with better training and support
    opportunities and observe professional ethics standards. Ruling coalition
    parties say the laws will reform the education system, but the opposition has
    voiced criticism, arguing the laws fail to provide solutions to the problems of
    the education system and represent a failure of the Educated Romania project
    endorsed by the presidency.




    (bill&VP)

  • November 10, 2022

    November 10, 2022

    PROTESTS The latest price hikes have triggered a wave of protests around Europe.
    Traffic has been hindered in the French capital and its surroundings as workers
    in the local railway and underground infrastructures have gone on strike.
    Belgium on Wednesday was affected by a national strike while in Britain
    thousands of nurses have decided to cease work asking for pay rises. In Greece,
    thousands have gathered in front of the Parliament building where protesters
    have clashed with riot police. In most of the fields activity has been
    interrupted while the road and maritime transport has ceased. TV and radio broadcasts
    have also been interrupted.










    LAW The ruling coalition in Bucharest has reached an
    agreement on capping and subsidizing energy prices the next year. A solution to
    this issue has been delayed for a couple of months now. Under the new
    legislation, household consumers with consumption below 100 kW/h will pay 0.68
    RON per kW and those below 255 kW 0.80 RON. Households with consumption higher
    than 255 kW will be paying 1.3 RON per kW. Major economic consumers will pay
    the same price while small and medium-sized businesses in the food pharmaceutical
    industry, community services and churches will pay one RON per kilowatt/hour.
    The Executive is expected to issue a new ordinance on the issue to be applied
    next year.










    HANDBALL Romania’s national handball side on Wednesday qualified for the main
    groups of the European Championship – EHF EURO 2022 after a 31-23 win against
    North Macedonia in Group C. Our handballers, who lost their first two matches
    against France and the Netherlands, have managed to qualify for the
    competition’s next stage after securing a win in the second half of the game. The
    European Championship – EHF EURO 2022 is underway in Slovenia, North Macedonia
    and Montenegro over November 4-20. Romania has participated in all these
    editions with the exception of 2006, the best result being the bronze medal
    they got in 2010. In the previous edition in 2010, Romania ranked 12th.








    BORDER Romania has been actively supporting us in the fight
    against the aggressor, Romania supports the idea of setting up an international
    tribunal and is supporting our future – Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal
    said in the opening of the border checkpoint in Vicovul de Sus, Romania and
    Krasnoilsk, Ukraine. Our citizens will come back through these border
    checkpoints and the consistent humanitarian aids from the EU countries are coming
    to our people also through these border checkpoints. According to him another
    seven checkpoints are planned to open at the common border. In these special
    moments Ukraine is going through, tragic moments after the Russian aggression,
    we need to show solidarity and unity – Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca
    has said. According to him the mobility of people and goods has become of vital
    relevance as the illegal, planned and unprovoked aggression of the Russian
    Federation is having disastrous effects upon the Ukrainian citizens and the
    government in Kyiv. The aforementioned border checkpoint is the first between
    Ukraine and an EU member after the beginning of the Russian invasion.








    TALKS Romanian president Klaus Iohannis will be
    attending the fifth edition of the Peace Forum in Paris due on Friday and
    Saturday at the Brongniart palace. According to the presidential
    administration, the debates during the forum will be focusing on major topics
    on the international agenda such as geo-political conflicts with global
    consequences, the aggravation of the climate change, the succession of the
    Covid-19 pandemic waves and increasing social gaps. On Friday Iohannis is to
    participate in a panel entitled Present and future – how to manage the effects
    of the multiple crisis over the population. On this occasion, Iohannis will be
    referring to the effects of the aggression war the Russian Federation is waging
    on Ukraine.








    (bill)

  • July 11, 2022

    July 11, 2022

    PARTNERSHIP Romanian president Klaus
    Iohannis has hailed the anniversary of 25 years since the launch of the
    Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States of America
    describing the document as one of the pillars of Romania’s foreign and security
    policy, says a communiqué issued by the Presidential Administration in
    Bucharest. According to Iohannis a common objective assumed by the two
    countries is Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver programme and both sides
    are making efforts in this respect. In turn, Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca
    said the Strategic Partnership with the USA in all its cooperation dimensions
    has become a priority for Romania. The country will continue to consolidate its
    defence and resilience to be a staunch and reliable ally of the USA in the
    region, a pillar of stability for NATO and EU’s eastern flank, Ciuca added.








    DEFICIT According to
    the National Institute for Statistics, Romania’s trade deficit went up to 12.7
    billion euros in the first five months of the year, 40% more than in the
    similar period last year. Exports rose by 23.5% to reach 36.9 billion euros and
    imports by 28.1% to amount to 49.6 billion euros. In May this year, exports
    totaled 7.9 billion euros while imports stood at 10.7 billion with a deficit
    of 2.7 billion.








    WAR Russian forces continued to bomb eastern Ukraine, killing at least 15
    people in an attack, which destroyed a residential building in Chasiv Yar on
    Sunday. Authorities have reported five rocket attacks and massive artillery
    shelling against the populated cities in the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk.
    Russian artillery attacks have also included civilian targets in the region and
    according to British experts, the Russian troops are making small headway. The
    Russian Defence Ministry has accused the Ukrainians of placing civilians and
    weapons in schools and other civilian buildings in several localities in
    Donetsk and Kharkiv. Experts say that Russians are making progress in eastern
    Ukraine as they managed to deploy more troops and resources in the region than the Ukrainians. The
    situation could become balanced through a counterattack by Ukrainian forces
    which are now relying on modern military equipment from the West. The latest military
    aid announced by the USA stays at 400 million dollars worth of four HIMARS rocket
    systems to be added to the 8 Kyiv already uses while the 155 mm cannons with intelligent ammunition have already been
    deployed.






    COVID-19 Romania is seeing a
    rising number of Covid-19 infections and its Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila,
    says the country is in for a peak of infections at the end of this summer,
    where the number of daily cases might reach 10 thousand. Luckily, the new
    variants are less aggressive and the minister recommends anti-Covid vaccination
    in autumn when new vaccines are to appear. According to Rafila, the new vaccine
    is to arrive in Romania in September and the country is presently relying on
    8.5 million doses. Authorities have recommended hospitals to get ready for a
    wave of the pandemic and reactivate their action plans.








    VISIT The European Chief Prosecutor, Laura
    Codruta Kovesi, is to arrive today in Chisinau, capital of the ex-soviet
    Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova. Until July 14, the EU official is to hold
    talks with government officials, including the country’s president Maia Sandu.
    In January Sandu told Kovesi that she wanted to cooperate with the European
    institution in order to give an impetus to the legal reforms in the republic.
    In another development, a delegation of the Moldovan Interior Ministry will
    today participate in the in the EU’s JHA Council underway in Prague. In a
    Facebook post, Minister Ana Revenco said the talks would also focus on the
    enlargement of the EU security space to also include the Republic of Moldova.





    (bill)

  • Partial embargo on Russian oil 

    Partial embargo on Russian oil 

    Since the start of the Russian military invasion in Ukraine on
    February 24, Western countries have responded by a number of economic and
    diplomatic sanctions against Russia. The sanctions are designed to effectively
    counter Russia’s continued aggression on the neighbouring country.


    Convening
    in a summit in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, the EU leaders agreed, after
    several hours of talks, to gradually ban Russian oil imports. The compromise
    negotiated with difficulty in Brussels bans only seaborne oil purchases for the
    time being, exempting pipeline deliveries following the opposition of Hungary.


    The measure
    is part of the 6th package of sanctions enacted by the EU since the
    start of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.


    The president
    of the European Council, Charles Michel, said the measure, which will be
    enforced by the end of the year, immediately covers more than two-thirds of the
    Russian oil imports, cutting a huge source of financing for [Russia’s] war
    machine and delivering maximum pressure on Russia to end the war.


    Imports via the Druzhba pipeline,
    which also supplies Hungary, will be exempt from the ban in a first stage, after
    Budapest used its veto rights to hinder the adoption of the 6th
    package of EU sanctions for several weeks. Hungary’s domestic consumption is
    65% reliant on the Druzhba pipeline.


    Negotiations
    are scheduled as soon as possible to move towards banning the remaining of the
    Russian oil imports.


    Attending
    the summit in Brussels, the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis said Bucharest
    supported the new sanctions against Moscow.


    Meanwhile,
    the EU leaders also agreed to remove 3 Russian banks, including Sberbank, from the Swift
    global payments system and to ban 3 other state-owned Russian broadcasters. So
    far, 7 Russian banks have been denied access to the Swift platform which enables
    major banking operations such as interbank transfers.


    Also, a
    macro-financial aid package worth EUR 9 billion has been approved. The funds
    will allow Kyiv to cover its immediate cash demand and to keep its economy
    running. According to the Ukrainian authorities, the country needs EUR 5
    billion per month. The EU funding will take the form of long-term loans with subsidised
    interests. (AMP)

  • 75 years since the signing of the Paris Peace Treaties

    75 years since the signing of the Paris Peace Treaties

    After a couple of months, on
    February 10th 1947, to be precise, a series of peace treaties with
    the former allies of the Nazi Germany like Romania, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria
    and Finland was signed. Each of these defeated countries tried to improve their
    difficult situation as they possibly could at that time. However, all of them,
    apart from Bulgaria, have lost territories and had to make compensation
    payments after the war.




    At the peace
    conference, Romania was represented by a government controlled by the communist
    party imposed by the Soviet occupation. The Romanian lobbyists and the team who
    worked on the official stand tried to bring strong arguments in support of
    Romania’s case. Gheorghe Apostol had a leading position in the Romanian
    Communist Party and in a 1995 interview to Radio Romania said that the biggest
    fight to represent Romania’s interests at that time wasn’t put up by the
    communists in the government.




    Gheorghe Apostol: Romania’s delegation also included Pătrăşcanu,
    not only because he was a justice minister at that time but also because he was
    a well-known political leader. There were several rounds of talks but Romania’s
    main speaker wasn’t Pătrăşcanu. The man who talked directly with the Western
    powers during the peace talks was Tătărăscu, Foreign Minister at that time and
    a political leader well-known in Romania and abroad. After the talks on the
    Paris Peace Treaty in 1947, the delegation came back and was given a hero’s
    welcome, although the main gain was only the issue of Transylvania. However,
    Romania’s right over Transylvania was obtained with great difficulty.




    Gheorghe
    Barbul used to be the chief of Marshal Antonescu’s cabinet, and the country’s
    Prime Minister between 1940 and 1944. He was assigned the task of drawing up
    two files, one on Romania-Hungary differences and another on the situation of
    the Jewish minority in Romania.




    Gheorghe
    Barbul: I was asked to draw up those two reports by the commission, which
    was supposed to present them during the peace talks. The commission was chaired
    by Ana Pauker. Of course it was very difficult for me to write these two reports.
    The report about Hungary wasn’t an issue, I wrote it as I thought and nobody
    contradicted me. But with the Jewish minority the situation was different
    because as a collaborator to Ion Antonescu and Mihai Antonescu I found it
    difficult to write as I should back then. Because if I had written it as they
    wished, I would have had no character but had I written it as I wanted I could
    have found myself in a delicate situation. And suddenly I got lucky after I had
    received some documents from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, an
    international Jewish organization, which had some references about Romania. So
    I was able to learn that the number of Jews who remained in Romania after the
    ceding of Bessarabia, North Transylvania and Southern Dobrudja, was close to
    400 thousand. So in my report the situation of the Jews, unlike in the other
    countries under German occupation, was one of the best. The report was
    submitted to Ana Pauker, who, to my surprise, approved it.




    Paul
    Niculescu-Mizil a former leading figure of the communist party confessed that Romania
    not being granted the title of co-belligerent country at the peace treaty talks
    was unfair.


    Paul Niculescu-Mizil:
    The biggest issue they tackled was the issue of co-belligerence. We sustained
    that idea but they even changed the real date when we started fighting the
    Germans. The peace treaty doesn’t mention the date of August 23rd
    when we actually started waging war against Germany but September 12th.
    So, they changed the actual facts and that benefitted the Russians and the
    Americans alike. Why did it benefit the Russians? Because they wanted to appear
    as liberators of Bucharest, of Romania. In one of my articles I told the story
    of Russian general Konev who came to hand us the battle flag of a Russian tank
    regiment, which had allegedly liberated Bucharest. However, I gave Defence
    Minister Bodnaras a collection of documents, including the newspapers issued in
    the days of August 29th, 30th and 31st 1944,
    showing Soviet troops receiving a hero’s welcome in Bucharest with flowers and
    all. What better proof than that? The Russians’ entry in Bucharest was hailed
    by the communists whereas the Social-Democrats welcomed the Romanian army. So,
    the Russian troops entered Romania to parade not to fight.






    75 years ago, the peace treaties
    in Paris sealed the end of WWII. The countries defeated had different destinies
    though. For Italy and Finland, the future looked prosperous and democratic whereas
    Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria were in for the tyranny and poverty brought along
    by the communist regimes instated in those countries.




    (bill)

  • July 26, 2018 UPDATE

    July 26, 2018 UPDATE

    EU PRESIDENCY Romania has finalised a calendar of the events and meetings to be held in the country and abroad during its presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2019. The announcement was made by the Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu, who presented a report of his term in office so far. The calendar includes 1,400 formal meetings in Brussels and Strasbourg, and another 300 meetings in Romania. Negrescu added that the venues for these meetings have also been chosen.



    ANTI-CORRUPTION In Bucharest, the 4 candidates for the office of head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate were interviewed on Thursday by the Justice Minister Tudorel Toader. On Friday a decision will be reached on either the nomination of one candidate, or the restart of the procedure, Tudorel Toader said. The 4 candidates are prosecutor Florentina Mirică – head of the Corruption Combating Division of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, prosecutor Cristian Lazăr – deputy chief of the Prosecution Division in the General Prosecutors Office, prosecutor Marius Iacob – deputy chief of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and prosecutor Elena Grecu – head of division in the central structure of the Directorate. The former head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate Laura Codruţa Kovesi was dismissed under an order issued on July 9 by President Klaus Iohannis, further to a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Romania.




    GREECE The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has announced there is no information on whether there are any Romanians among the victims of the wildfires in Greece. The latest death toll of the wildfires that recently ravaged Greece stands at 81; 200 other people have been wounded with scores still missing. The Custodian of the Crown of Romania and president of the Romanian Red Cross, Margareta, has conveyed a message to Greece in which she expressed her compassion for the fire victims at the same time pledging support from the Romanian Red Cross. In turn, the Romanian Orthodox Church has urged all its churches around the country and abroad to donate money in order to give financial support to the victims of the fires in Greece. The funds raised will be eventually donated to the Archbishopric of Athens. On Wednesday Romania dispatched two planes to the fire-affected areas: one fitted with fire-extinguishing equipment and a Hercules C-130 to provide logistic support. Sweden has also reported a series of forest fires close to the Arctic Circle where several towns have already been evacuated.




    SWINE FEVER – In Romania, the authorities are trying to contain African swine fever, with an emergency committee set up by the Agriculture Ministry to monitor the outbreak. The ministry has also informed the European Commission that it will apply for compensations for the producers who have been forced to kill their animals. Some 440 hotbeds have been identified since the beginning of the year.



    AIR POLICE Two British Typhoon fighters were launched on Thursday from the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in south-eastern Romania, because a Russian aircraft flying over the Black Sea was heading for NATO airspace. A news release issued by the British Air Force mentions that the Russian bomber was a Su-24 FENCER aircraft. In May, when they were deployed on their 4-month mission in Romania, the British fighters were also forced to respond to a Russian aircraft approaching NATO airspace. The British aircraft are in Romania on enhanced air policing missions.


    (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)