Radio România Internațional

Tag: standoff

Romania’s foreign minister invited to Parliament

Romanias embassy in Kyiv is fully operational, the Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu announced.

Invited by the foreign policy committees in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies to present the security developments in the Black Sea region, the minister said a procedure was put into place to bring back into the country the families of the diplomatic staff at the Romanian embassy in the capital Kyiv and the consulate general in the Black Sea port city of Odessa, in the south of Ukraine.

The other 2 consular offices, located in Solotvino, in Transcarpathia, and in Cernăuţi, in northern Bukovina, both of them in the west of Ukraine, are not covered by this procedure, thanks to the higher security level in those regions, the minister explained.

Aurescu added that all the embassies of EU member states in Kyiv apply the same logic, and it was important for Ukraines western partners to convey a coherent message.

Last week, the Romanian foreign ministry announced raising the alert level for Ukraine. With the steady Russian military buildup at Ukraines border, the Romanian authorities firmly recommend that Romanian nationals avoid travelling to that country and pay close attention to regional developments. They also urge Romanian citizens in Ukraine to reconsider remaining there.

Avoiding travels to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where pro-Russian secessionists play a major role, and to Ukraines borders with Russia and Belarus, is also highly recommended.

The authorities also urge Romanian nationals, including journalists, to avoid large crowds, to stay up to date with information from reliable sources and to promptly adjust their plans to the security situation.

Bucharest used all the official channels, from the presidency to the government and foreign ministry, to affirm its support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. As a NATO and EU member state, Romania has joined in the sanctions against the Russian Federation.

According to Romanian mass media, in the case of a Russian invasion in Ukraine, Bucharest is also taking into account the management of an inflow of refugees from that state.

The Romanian community is Ukraine, totaling over 400,000 people, is mostly located in northern Bukovina, northern and southern Bassarabia and Hertsa County, all of them former Romanian territories annexed by the former USSR in 1940 and incorporated into Ukraine in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union. (A.M.P.)

17 February 2022
February 13, 2022 UPDATE

UKRAINE Germany considers increasing its
economic aid to Ukraine, but still refuses to supply it with weapons, DPA
quotes a governmental source in Berlin as saying. The announcement comes ahead
of a visit by chancellor Olaf Scholz to Kyiv on
Monday and to Moscow on Tuesday, in the
context of the Russian-Ukrainian standoff. Meanwhile, the US has started pulling out its OSCE
staff from the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, controlled by pro-Russian
separatists, Reuters reports. The US and many of its allies are urging their citizens to leave Ukraine, warning that a
Russian invasion may be imminent. The Romanian foreign ministry has raised the
alert level for Ukraine and advises Romanian citizens to avoid travelling to
that country. Romanian nationals currently in Ukraine are urged to notify their
presence to Romania’s embassy or consular offices and to reconsider staying in
that country. The foreign ministry also calls on Romanian citizens, including
journalists, to avoid big crowds, to stay up to date with information from
reliable sources and to adjust their plans to the security situation there.

NATO Meanwhile, US Stryker
armoured vehicles have reached the Mihail Kogălniceanu military base in
southern Romania, where 1,000 US troops will also be relocated from Germany to
strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. With the arrival of Task Force Cougar, the number of American troops in Romania
reaches nearly 2,000. France
has also voiced willingness to deploy troops to Romania. A NATO member since
2004, Romania was already hosting 900 American, 250 Polish and 140 Italian
troops. A unit of the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), comprising around 150
troops and 8 F-16 Fighting Falcons, are conducting joint training missions with
Romanian troops and aircraft for 2 weeks. A senior Pentagon official also announced the US decided to send an
additional 3,000 troops to Poland as well.

COVID-19 The number of new COVID-19
cases continues to drop in Romania, with nearly 12,000 new cases reported on
Sunday and 81 related deaths. Over 1,140 patients are currently in intensive care. The
largest number of infections since the start of the pandemic, 40,018, was reported on February 1. The health minister Alexandru Rafila said the number of new reported
cases remains high, although it is falling quickly, and once again pleaded for
vaccination, especially among vulnerable categories. As for lifting the
restrictions, the health minister did not specify a deadline, but stressed that
relaxation will be as quick as the situation allows it. In turn,
the head of the vaccination programme Valeriu Gheorghiţă said that in the
future vaccination will be seasonal, just like for the flu, and the vaccine
will be adjusted to the variant circulating at a particular time. He
also said the vaccination rate in Romania stands at 50.5% of the adult
population.

PANDEMIC This weekend
restrictions were eased off in Italy, Spain and Iceland, while France and Germany are planning to do the same in the
coming weeks. Norway lifted the last protection measures in the country in
spite of a rise in the number of Omicron cases. However, the protests initiated
by truck drivers in Canada 2 weeks ago, and spreading to several other
countries on Saturday, are still going on. European drivers headed to major
capital cities to protest the compulsory vaccine and digital certificate. Protests
were organised in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand. (A.M.P.)

13 February 2022
February 13, 2022

UKRAINE In the context of the
Russian-Ukrainian standoff, the Romanian foreign ministry has raised the alert
level for Ukraine and advises Romanian citizens to avoid travelling to that
country. The foreign ministry firmly recommends avoiding travels to Crimea, to
the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and to Ukraine’s borders with Russia and
Belarus. Romanian nationals currently in Ukraine are urged to notify their
presence to Romania’s embassy or consular offices and to reconsider staying in
that country. The foreign ministry also calls on Romanian citizens, including
journalists, to avoid big crowds, to stay up to date with information from
reliable sources and to adjust their plans to the security situation there. A
growing number of countries, including the US, Britain and Germany, are urging
their citizens to leave Ukraine, as Western powers warn that a Russian invasion
may be imminent. Moscow has massed around 100,000 troops and military equipment
along the Ukrainian border and started military exercises at the Black Sea and
in Belarus, but denies any aggressive plans. The US president Joe Biden has
once again warned the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, over the telephone, of the
prospective consequences of an invasion.

NATO Meanwhile, US Stryker armoured
vehicles have reached the Mihail Kogălniceanu military base in southern Romania,
where 1,000 US troops will also be relocated from Germany to strengthen NATO’s
eastern flank. With the arrival of Task
Force Cougar, the number of American troops in Romania reaches nearly
2,000. France
has also voiced willingness to deploy troops to Romania. A NATO member since
2004, Romania was already hosting 900 American, 250 Polish and 140 Italian
troops. A unit of the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), comprising around 150
troops and 8 F-16 Fighting Falcons, are conducting joint training missions with
Romanian troops and aircraft for 2 weeks. A senior Pentagon official also announced the US decided to send an
additional 3,000 troops to Poland as well.

COVID-19 The number of new COVID-19 cases
continues to drop in Romania, with nearly 12,000 new cases reported on Sunday
and 81 related deaths. Over 1,140 patients are currently in intensive care. The largest number
of infections since the start of the pandemic,
40,018, was reported on February 1. The health minister Alexandru Rafila said the number of new reported cases remains high,
although it is falling quickly, and once again pleaded for vaccination,
especially among vulnerable categories. As for lifting the restrictions, the
health minister did not specify a deadline, but stressed that relaxation will
be as quick as the situation allows it. In turn, the head of the
vaccination programme Valeriu Gheorghiţă said that in the future vaccination
will be seasonal, just like for the flu, and the vaccine will be adjusted to
the variant circulating at a particular time. He also said the
vaccination rate in Romania stands at 50.5% of the adult population.

PANDEMIC This weekend restrictions were eased off in Italy, Spain and
Iceland, while France and Germany are planning
to do the same in the coming weeks. Norway lifted the last protection measures
in the country in spite of a rise in the number of Omicron cases. However, the
protests initiated by truck drivers in Canada 2 weeks ago, and spreading to
several other countries on Saturday, are still going on. European drivers
headed to major capital cities to protest the compulsory vaccine and digital
certificate. Protests were organised in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia
and New Zealand. (A.M.P.)

13 February 2022
February 9, 2022

COVID-19 In
Romania 27,346 new SARS-CoV-2 infections were reported on Wednesday, fewer than
on the previous day, and 176 related deaths, 5 of them from a previous date.
According to experts, who have identified the Omicron variant of the coronavirus
in all sequenced samples, Romania may have achieved herd immunity and the fifth pandemic wave is quite likely to end in spring. The vaccination rate
remains very low, and the number of fully vaccinated citizens is little over 8
million.

CONFERENCE The Romanian health minister Alexandru Rafila takes part today and
tomorrow in a joint conference of EU foreign and health ministers on global
health and in an informal meeting of EU health ministers, due in Lyon and Grenoble (France). The 2 events are organised by the French
presidency of the EU Council. The participants will discuss the EU measures to
support developing countries in accessing medicines in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic, and to strengthen national healthcare systems. The informal meeting
of health ministers will focus on the intervention and resilience of public
health systems in case of crises, and on the joint development of policies to
create a ‘Union of health.’

MOTION The Chamber of Deputies in
Bucharest Wednesday dismissed the simple motion tabled by the opposition party USR
against the Liberal minister for energy Virgil Popescu, with 98 votes in favour
and 190 against. According to the authors, Popescu is a threat to Romania’s
energy security and must be dismissed immediately. The motion was scheduled for
debates on Monday, but the meeting was suspended after the co-president of the
nationalist party AUR, George Simion, assaulted the energy minister during his
address. The meeting was subsequently resumed, but with only the opposition MPs from AUR and USR in attendance. Virgil
Popescu and the MPs from the ruling coalition left the hall in protest. Prosecutors
have opened a criminal case with respect to the incident.

ECONOMY Romania’s trade balance deficit in 2021 amounted to EUR 23.69
billion, over EUR 5.3 billion higher than in 2020, according to data released
on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute. Last year exports totalled
EUR 74.7 billion and imports over EUR 98 billion.
Official data also reveal that in 2021, vehicle and transport equipment
accounted for 44.9% of Romania’s exports and 35.2% of imports, with other
manufactured products also accounting for large shares of the country’s foreign
trade.

UKRAINE International diplomatic efforts continue with a view to deescalate
the Russia-Ukraine standoff. The president of France Emmanuel Macron called for
a dynamic dialogue with Russia, which he sees as the only way to make peace in
Ukraine possible. Macron discussed with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin in
Moscow and with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, and
voiced confidence that progress will be made in the peace talks, but
warned that risks still exist and that months of negotiations will be needed. In
turn, president Volodymyr Zelensky said he was looking forward to resuming
Normandy Format negotiations with Russia, brokered by France and Germany. He
also insisted that president Putin complied with the Minsk agreements, whose
main clause concerns the sovereignty of Ukraine. The Russian-Ukrainian tensions
were also discussed on Tuesday in Berlin by the German chancellor Olaf Scholz with
the presidents of France Emmanuel Macron and of Poland, Andrzej Duda. Germany,
France and Poland are united in their goal of preserving peace in Europe,
said the German chancellor, who is to travel to Moscow next week.

TENNIS The Romanian player Sorana
Cirstea today takes on seed no. 2 Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the round of 16
of the WTA 500 tournament in Sankt Petersburg (Russia). Two other Romanians, Irina
Begu and Jaqueline Cristian will play tomorrow in the same round, against Petra
Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Aleksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, respectively. (A.M.P.)

9 February 2022
February 8, 2022 UPDATE

COVID-19 36,269 new SARS-CoV-2 infections were
reported for the past 24 hours in Romania, along with 193 related fatalities,
the Strategic Communication Group announced on Tuesday. Since the start of the
pandemic 2 years ago, more than 2 million Romanians have had the disease and
over 60,000 died. Meanwhile, since the start of the vaccine roll-out in
December 2020, over 8 million people have received a full vaccination cycle,
and 2.4 million have also got the booster dose.

HEALTHCARE The Romanian health minister Alexandru Rafila will take
part on February 9-10 in a joint conference of EU foreign and health ministers
on global health and in an informal meeting of health ministers, due in Lyon and
Grenoble. According to the ministry, the 2 events are organised by the French
presidency of the EU Council. The participants will discuss the EU measures to
support developing countries in accessing medicines in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic, and to strengthen national healthcare systems. The informal meeting
of health ministers will focus on the intervention and resilience of public
health systems in case of crises, and on the joint development of policies to
create a ‘Union of health.’

TROOPS A first unit of US troops, deployed in order to strengthen
the security of Eastern European Allies amid the Ukraine standoff has reached
Romania, the defence minister Vasile Dîncu announced. He explained that around
100 experts have arrived in order to prepare the deployment of a larger
contingent. Early this month, the US announced it would send an additional
3,000 troops to NATO’s eastern flank, 1,000 of them due to be stationed in Romania.
France also voiced willingness to send troops to Romania.We will get involved in new missions and take all
responsibility, with enhanced presence especially in Romania, should this
decision be made. I reaffirm our solidarity with our European friends in NATO,
president Emmanuel Macron said. A NATO member since 2004, Romania is already
hosting 900 troops from the US, 140 from
Italy and 250 from Poland.

POLITICS The Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Tuesday that a
criminal investigation was initiated with respect to Monday’s incident in
Parliament, where the Romanian energy minister Virgil Popescu was assaulted by
the co-president of the nationalist opposition party AUR, Deputy George Simion.
Popescu had previously filed a criminal complaint against Simion. While
attending a Chamber of Deputies meeting on Monday, the Liberal minister Virgil
Popescu was insulted and assaulted by Simion. The meeting was suspended, and
subsequently resumed with only the opposition MPs from AUR and USR in attendance.
Prosecutors are also investigating Călin Georgescu, rumoured to become the
honorary president of AUR party. A criminal case was opened against him for
promoting fascist views and individuals convicted for genocide and war crimes,
following televised statements Georgescu had made concerning the fascist leader
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and the former head of state Ion Antonescu.

MOLDOVA
The number of supporters of
the R. of Moldova’s union with Romania is growing, according to an opinion poll
quoted by Radio Chişinău on Tuesday. Over 34%
of the respondents in Moldova would vote in favour of the union, says the poll
commissioned by IDIS Viitorul in Chișinău and the Institute of Political
Sciences and International Relations with the Romanian Academy. This is a
record-high number of union supporters, over 10 times higher than in 2010. According
to the same poll, which focused on citizens’ perception of the relations
between Moldova and Romania, over 62% of the people with dual citizenship would
vote for the union. However, in the case of new tensions similar to the one in
Ukraine, more people would back a military alliance with Russia (22.5%) than
with Romania (12.5%). (A.M.P.)

8 February 2022