Radio România Internațional

Tag: Russian President Vladimir Putin

  • August 19, 2018 UPDATE

    August 19, 2018 UPDATE

    PROTEST – On Sunday, the
    Romanian Interior Minister held a press conference concerning the events that
    occurred during the anti-Government protest on August 10th in
    Bucharest. Carmen Dan apologized to all those who suffered, both civilians and
    military. The Interior Minister said that she had received the report on the
    events and voiced her availability to present the data before Parliament.
    According to the minister, 21 criminal records have been opened, 3 people have
    been arrested and 2 have been placed under judicial control. As regards the
    tear gas used, Carmen Dan said that the substances used are authorized, have
    certificates of conformity and are sold by authorized manufacturers. She also
    explained the gendarmes’ violence with the fact that the peaceful protesters
    did not disassociated themselves from the violent ones. Until Sunday night, the
    Army Prosecutor’s Office in Bucharest had registered approximately 300 criminal
    complaints against gendarmes, filed by participants in the protest. 130 people
    have been heard so far. Army prosecutors have initiated criminal proceedings
    for abusive behavior and professional misconduct in relation to the
    intervention of the gendarme forces during the protest. Ionel Corbu, Chief
    Prosecutor of the Army Prosecutor’s Office with the Bucharest Military
    Tribunal, has stated that the aggression displayed was not justified, as there
    were other means that could have been used instead.




    ITALY – The search
    operation for those missing after the Morandi motorway bridge collapsed in
    Genoa ended overnight after the last bodies were found, bringing the official
    death toll to 43. Two of the dead are Romanian citizens. We recall that a
    200-meter section of the bridge gave away in busy traffic on Tuesday, plunging
    vehicles, concrete and twisted metal to the ground, 50 metres below. The
    viaduct was part of the A10 motorway and was managed by the private operator
    Autostrade per l’Italia. The Italian
    government blames Autostrade for the disaster, though the company denies any
    negligence on its part. On Friday, the Government launched a procedure to
    revoke the concession agreements with
    Autostrade, which allow the latter to operate toll roads.






    DIASPORA – The Romanians who
    live and work abroad and spent their summer holidays in the country are now
    going back to work, so border crossing points, especially in the west of the
    country, are extremely crowded. Official data show that, in the past few days,
    the Romanian border has been crossed by more than 1,300,000 people, both
    Romanian and foreign citizens. In another development, Romanian police and its
    foreign partners discovered some 20,000 people reported in the Schengen
    Information System or wanted by INTERPOL in the first six months of the year.
    Also, more than 400 wanted by the Romanian authorities at international level
    were brought to the country, and more than 360 people wanted by Romania’s
    international partners were handed over to the countries wanting them.






    CYBER ATTACK – The Romanian
    Intelligence Service has announced that it possesses intelligence according to
    which large-scale cyber attacks were perpetrated against financial institutions
    in Romania in the June-August 2018 period. The American banks too had received
    warnings from the FBI that certain hackers were prepared to attack ATMs and
    payment processing devices. The Romanian Intelligence Service has stated that
    the hackers use several attack methods, including the Cobalt Strike arsenal,
    associated with a cyber-crime group in Eastern Europe.




    TALKS – The German chancellor
    Angela Merkel and the Russian President Vladimir Putin have made no real
    progress with the talks regarding the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, the relations with
    Iran and the North Stream 2 gas pipeline, the issues that the two officials
    discussed on Saturday night, Reuters reports. The two leaders met in a formal
    bilateral meeting for the first time since the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
    After the talks, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peksov told the press that no
    agreement was reached following the discussions held at the Meseberg castle, north
    of Berlin. He stated that both Merkel and Putin believed the North Stream 2
    project was purely commercial, despite opposition from both the US and Ukraine.
    The pipeline should be rendered operational in late 2019, and would supply Europe
    with Russian natural gas, going round Ukraine. This project, initiated by
    Moscow, is being implemented despite the EU’s energy strategy to reduce the
    dependence on gas imported from Russia.




    TENNIS – The Romanian tennis
    player Simona Halep, world’s no.1, has qualified for the final of the WTA
    tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, with approximately 3 million dollars in prize
    money, after defeating on Friday 6-3, 6-4 Arina Sabalenka of Belarus. The
    Romanian player, who is the tournament’s first seed, will play the final match
    against the Dutch Kiki Bertens, no 17 in the WTA rankings. To Simona, the
    Cincinnati final will be the 33rd in her career, whose record
    includes 18 titles won so far. In another move, the pair made up of the
    Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer failed to qualify for the
    final of the doubles competition of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in
    Cincinnati. They were defeated on Saturday by the British-Brazilian pair Jamie
    Murray – Bruno Soares.

  • August 19, 2018

    August 19, 2018

    PROTEST – The Army Prosecutor’s
    Office in Bucharest has so far registered 260 criminal complaints against gendarmes,
    filed by participants in the August 10th anti-government protest.
    The gendarmes are accused of abusive intervention during the demonstration. As
    of Monday, claims and complaints will be received at the General Prosecutor’s
    Office, which will initiate the necessary criminal proceedings. Army
    prosecutors have opened a prosecution file for abusive behavior and professional
    misconduct in relation to the intervention of the gendarme forces during the
    protest. Ionel Corbu, Chief Prosecutor of the Army Prosecutor’s Office with the
    Bucharest Military Tribunal, has stated that the aggression displayed was not
    justified, as there were other means that could be used instead. On Saturday,
    dozens of people marked in Bucharest one week since the violence of August 10th.




    ITALY – The Romanian Foreign
    Ministry has announced the death of the second Romanian caught in the collapse
    of the Morandi road bridge in Italy. Representatives of the Romanian consular
    team, who travelled to Genoa, are in permanent contact with the family and is
    ready to provide the necessary assistance. According to Reuters, the search
    operations ended on Saturday night, and the official death toll stands at 43. Saturday
    was a day of national mourning in Italy, but half of the victims’ families
    decided to boycott the official ceremony in Genoa in protest against the
    Government. The Italian Government holds the operator of the motorway that
    included the Morandi bridge responsible for the tragedy. The leadership of the
    company responsible for the management of the bridge has announced it will
    allocate 500 million Euros for reconstruction and other projects aimed to aid
    the city. The families of the 40 victims will get millions in damages and the
    company will also pay for the relocation of those who were living in the
    buildings under the bridge.




    CYBER ATTACK – The Romanian
    Intelligence Service has announced that it possesses intelligence according to
    which large-scale cyber attacks were perpetrated against financial institutions
    in Romania in the June-August 2018 period. The American banks too had received
    warnings from the FBI that certain hackers were prepared to attack ATMs and
    payment processing devices. The Romanian Intelligence Service has stated that
    the hackers use several attack methods, including the Cobalt Strike arsenal,
    associated with a cyber-crime group in Eastern Europe.




    TALKS – The German chancellor
    Angela Merkel and the Russian President Vladimir Putin have made no real
    progress with regard to the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, the relations with
    Iran and the North Stream 2 gas pipelines, the issues that the two officials
    discussed on Saturday night, Reuters reports. The two leaders met in a formal
    bilateral meeting for the first time since the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
    After the talks, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peksov told the press that no
    agreement was reached following the discussions held at the Meseberg castle, north
    of Berlin. He stated that both Merkel and Putin believed the North Stream 2
    project was purely commercial, despite opposition from both the US and Ukraine.
    The pipeline should be rendered operation in late 2019, and would supply Europe
    with Russian natural gas, going round Ukraine. This project, initiated by
    Moscow, is being implemented despite the EU’s energy strategy to reduce the
    dependence on gas imported from Russia.




    TENNIS – The Romanian tennis
    player Simona Halep, world’s no.1, has qualified for the final of the WTA
    tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, with approximately 3 million dollars in prize
    money, after defeating on Friday 6-3, 6-4 Arina Sabalenka of Belarus. The
    Romanian player, who is the tournament’s first seed, will play the final match
    against the Dutch Kiki Bertens, no 17 in the WTA rankings. To Simona, the
    Cincinnati final will be the 33rd in her career, whose record
    includes 18 titles won so far. In another move, the pair made up of the
    Romanian Horia Tecau and the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer failed to qualify for the
    final of the doubles competition of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in
    Cincinnati. They were defeated on Saturday by the British-Brazilian pair Jamie
    Murray – Bruno Soares.



  • April 3, 2018 UPDATE

    April 3, 2018 UPDATE


    TALKS – On Tuesday, Romanias President Klaus Iohannis warned the Executive that the salary law for public sector employees ran counter to the principles of equality and predictability and called for caution in approaching economic policies. The head of state also said that transferring the obligation to pay social security contributions from employers to employees and reducing the tax on salaries lead to an insignificant increase in the net salaries, and the effect was annulled by the growing inflation rate. The president made the statements during the meeting he had with the Social Democrat Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and the Labour Minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu. In turn, the latter ensured the president of the fact that the financial resources needed for the application of the salary law and the subsequent pay rises were stable. We recall that lately, the coalition government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats has been the target of many protests triggered by the new salary law.



    MOTION – The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest on Tuesday discussed the simple motion tabled by the opposition National Liberal Party against the Culture Minister George Ivascu. The Liberals have denounced negligence in preparing the events dedicated to the anniversary of 100 years since the Great Union and have voiced concern over what they see as the Governments inability to ensure a proper celebration of the day of December 1st. The Liberals say that a public debate is needed in order to put together a national plan for the celebration of the centennial. The Save Romania Union and the Peoples Movement Party are also supporting the motion. The vote has been scheduled for Wednesday.



    GENDARMERIE – A special military ceremony was held on Tuesday in the capital Bucharest, marking the anniversary of 168 years since the establishment of the Romanian Gendarmerie. Many cities in the country have been hosting events devoted to this anniversary, with activities for both kids and adults. In Bucharest people were invited to participate in the Gendarmerie Race over a distance of 5 kilometers.



    MOLDOVA – As many as four parties would make it to Parliament in Chisinau, if early elections were called, according to the results of a poll presented by the Moldovan Association of Sociologists and Demographers. These are President Igor Dodons pro-Russian Party of Socialists, the pro-European Action and Solidarity Party, the ruling Democratic Party and the pro-European Dignity and Truth Platform. The poll shows that the pro-Moscow president Igor Dodon enjoys the trust of 50% of the people interviewed, followed by the leader of the Action and Solidarity Party Maia Sandu and the former communist President Vladimir Voronin. More than half of the respondents do not trust any politician.



    HACKERS – 20 hackers have been arrested in Romania and Italy after stealing approximately one million Euros from bank clients, the European Unions Judicial Cooperation Unit (Eurojust) announced on Tuesday. The hackers have stolen from more than 100 clients of banks from both countries. According to Eurojust, the hackers sent to those banks clients e-mails resembling those sent by banks or fiscal authorities and thus obtained personal data and information about their bank accounts.



    CONSTRUCTION – The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday launched the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Turkey, by the Russian giant Rosatom. According to France Presse, this is evidence of the two countries flourishing relationship. The 20 billion Euro project is part of a development plan initiated by Erdogan, who wants to turn Turkey into one of the worlds ten richest countries by 2023, when the Turkish Republic celebrates its 100th anniversary. On Wednesday, the two presidents will be joined by the Iranian president Hassan Rohani to discuss Syria. Ankara and Moscow have overcome the diplomatic crisis triggered by the incident of 2015, when Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian military aircraft on the border with Syria.




  • The Republic of Moldova Looking towards the East

    The Republic of Moldova Looking towards the East

    In late December,
    Igor Dodon was sworn in as President of the Republic of Moldova. The head of
    the former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population made
    a stormy entrance into his new office. Although in 2013 the Constitutional
    Court of Moldova ruled that the Romanian language was the official language of
    the Republic, Igor Dodon replaced it, on the site of the presidency, with the
    so-called Moldovan Language. Also, he felt the urge to settle accounts with the
    former president of Romania Traian Basescu, by withdrawing his Moldovan citizenship,
    only two months after the latter had obtained it.

    Also, as a continuation of the speeches held during the election
    campaign against the Association Agreement with the EU, he decided to remove
    the EU flag from the entrance of the Republic’s Palace in Chisinau. On the
    other hand, in order to reconfirm his pro-Russian orientation, Igor Dodon chose
    to pay to Moscow his first formal foreign visit as head of state, this being
    the first bilateral visit by a Moldovan leader to Russia in the past 9 years.
    Igor Dodon’s main goal is to resume the strategic partnership with Russia, left
    aside during the term in office of his pro-European predecessor Nicolae
    Timofti, to whom the rapprochement with the EU, with help from Romania, was a
    priority.


    On Tuesday,
    president Dodon was received at the Kremlin by his Russian counterpart Vladimir
    Putin, to whom he said that the Association Agreement between the Republic of
    Moldova, concluded in 2014, could be revised or even cancelled after the next
    parliamentary elections in Chisinau, provided they are won by the Socialists’
    Party, whose leader he was until taking over the office of president. In Igor
    Dodon’s vision, the association agreement with the Europeans has not benefited
    the Republic of Moldova in any way. On the other hand, Chisinau would get
    considerable advantages if part of the Eurasian Economic Union and president
    Dodon asked for Putin’s support for Moldova to get the status of observer.

    Moscow, too, granted Igor Dodon’s visit a higher political status, which could
    be seen in the way in which the visit was organized, the list and format of
    talks. Vladimir Putin offered Dodon a historical map of the Republic of
    Moldova, as it was back in the 18th century, which made Dodon state
    that half of the current territory of Romania is Moldovan. Pundits say that
    Dodon is in Moscow to approach issues that are of interest not to Moldova, but
    to Moscow. The fact that the official delegation does not include any member of
    the Government is evidence enough that Igor Dodon is on his own and does not
    act as a representative of the state.