Radio România Internațional

Tag: Zaporizhzhia

  • March 18, 2023 UPDATE

    March 18, 2023 UPDATE

    FOOTBALL – Romanian selector Edward Iordanescu has summoned 26 players for the games with Andorra and Belarus, the first for the Romanian national football side in the qualifiers for Euro 2024 hosted by Germany. Romania will be up against Andorra in an away match on March 25th after which it takes on Belarus at home. Romanias eleven has been included in the first group of the qualifiers together with Switzerland, Israel, Kosovo, Belarus and Andorra. The first two squads in the ten preliminary groups will qualify for the final tournament. The last three places will be decided following the Nations League play-offs in March next year.



    VISIT – Attracting investments in the Romanian economy through projects in the fields of infrastructure and energy are the main objectives of the visit, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis started in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday. The four-day visit takes place at the invitation of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates. Boosting the already-growing economic relations between the two countries and developing joint projects on fighting climate change, in the field of food and cyber-security are high on the agenda. According to the presidential administration in Bucharest, the United Arab Emirates continues to be the first trade partner of Romanias in the Gulf area and Iohannis visit has been the first paid by a Romanian president in the past 20 years.



    MINISTRY – The Romanian Foreign Ministry reiterates the firm position of condemning and unrecognizing the illegal annexation by the Russian Federation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as well as its support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally-recognized borders. Nine years on since its illegal annexation by Russia on March 18th, Romanias Foreign Affairs Ministry says in a press release on Saturday that the annexation is a blatant violation of international law as well as of the multilateral documents signed by Russia, including the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act. According to the same sources Romania condemns the use of the Crimean territory by Russia during the illegal and unprovoked aggression commenced by Russia on February 24th 2022. Romania also doesnt recognize the illegal annexation by the Russian Federation of the regions in eastern Ukraine (Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia), which are an inalienable part of Ukraines national territory under the international law.



    SPEECH – Maia Sandu, the pro-western president of the ex-soviet Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova, has given assurances the state she leads isnt presently facing the danger of war. In an unexpected speech before the countrys Parliament, Sandu says the Russian Army cannot make it to the Republic of Moldova as long as the neighboring Ukraine is resisting in the war. Sandu has repeated the allegations about the attempts to destabilize the country by Russia and the pro-Russian opposition party Shor. The Shor group has a clear mission from the Kremlin and the Russian Security Service (FSB), namely to bring the war to the Republic of Moldova. Their goal is to destabilize through violence and put an end to the countrys democratically-elected rule. According to President Sandu, specialized institutions have managed to prevent any destabilizing attempts. However, Sandu says, the greatest danger the country is presently facing is corruption. She called on Parliament and government to create an Anti-corruption Tribunal, a specialized court in charge of investigating the big corruption cases including in the countrys legal system and has pledged the process of reforming and cleaning the aforementioned system will be completed in spite of the resistance currently faced. President Sandu has also said that the Republic of Moldova is not alone in facing the aforementioned challenges, but enjoys support from Romania, the United States and the European Union.



    TENNIS Players Ana Bogdan, Jaqueline Cristian, Irina Bara, Monica Niculescu and Anca Todoni are part of the Romanian tennis side due to take on Slovenia in the qualifiers for the final tournament of Billie Jean King Cup, the Romanian Tennis Federation has announced on its formal webpage. The Romanian-Slovenian match is due over April 14th and 15th at Sport Park Bonifika, in the Slovenian city of Koper. The winner will qualify for the competitions final tournament. The only direct match between the two sides took place in the year 2000 when Slovenia outperformed Romania 3-0 in Spain in the group one of the competition for the Europe-Africa Zone.


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  • November 20, 2022 UPDATE

    November 20, 2022 UPDATE

    Conference — The Romanian Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, will co-chair on Monday, in Paris, the third Ministerial Conference of the Support Platform for the Republic of Moldova, a permanent support tool created at the initiative of the foreign ministers of Romania, Germany and France this spring to mobilize the financial contributions of the international community and to support the necessary reforms for EU accession. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry — MAE, Minister Aurescu will co-chair this event together with the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Catherine Colonna, and the Foreign Minister of Germany, Annalena Baerbock. The conference will enjoy the participation of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu. The meeting in Paris takes place in the context in which the Republic of Moldova is facing major energy, economic, humanitarian challenges and challenges to its resilience, against the background of the brutal war of aggression waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.



    Children’s Rights — A special government meeting will take place on Monday, in Bucharest, when children will take the seats of ministers, as part of an event organized on the occasion of the World Childrens Day. Thus, the government headquarters will become, for one day, the childrens headquarters – shows a Romanian Government’s communiqué. The children will present their vision and aspirations for Romania through a series of projects that they will propose during the simulation of the Executive session. The event is carried out in partnership with UNICEF Romania. The World Childrens Day is marked annually on November 20.



    Summit — During the La Francophonie Summit, held in Djerba, in Tunisia, Romania has emphasized the serious impact on security and stability at the regional and global level generated by Russias military aggression against Ukraine, as well as the particularly vulnerable situation of the Republic of Moldova (an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population) in this context. At the Conference of Heads of State and Government from the French-speaking countries, Romania was represented by presidential adviser Sergiu Nistor, the Francophonie representative of Romanias president, Klaus Iohannis. Sergiu Nistor emphasized the need to urgently address the issues of the risk of manipulation and propagation of false information, disinformation and narratives on social networks in the French-speaking digital space. He also highlighted Romanias solid contribution to the promotion of the French language and the values ​​of the Francophonie, underlining Bucharests active commitment to international cooperation and assistance for development in the French-speaking space, by financing programs carried out in French-speaking Africa or in the member states of the International Organization of La Francophonie from Central and Eastern Europe. The representative of the President of Romania for La Francophonie also highlighted the continuation of the main emblematic programs of La Francophonie, run by Romania, such as the “Eugene Ionescu” doctoral and postdoctoral scholarship program or the course intended for officers who will operate within the UN peacekeeping operations carried out in Francophone areas.



    COP27 — COP27, the annual UN climate conference, adopted on Sunday a resolution that provides for the creation of a fund to finance climate damage already suffered by “particularly vulnerable” countries, a decision described as historic by its promoters. The decision was adopted by consensus, in the plenary assembly, at the end of the conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The resolution emphasizes the immediate need for new, additional, predictable and adequate financial resources to help developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the economic and non-economic impact of climate change. The ways of implementing the decision are to be developed by a special committee and will be adopted at COP28 at the end of 2023, in the United Arab Emirates.



    Kyiv — Ukraines Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was rocked by bombings on Saturday night and on Sunday, drawing criticism from the UN nuclear watchdog, which warned that such attacks risked a major nuclear catastrophe, Reuters reports. More than a dozen explosions rocked the largest nuclear power plant in Europe – the International Atomic Energy Agency said. Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for the bombings. Repeated bombing of the Zaporizhzhia plant, which Russia took control of shortly after invading Ukraine in February, is raising concerns about the possibility of a major accident just 500 km away from the site of the worlds worst nuclear accident that took place in Chernobyl in 1986. (LS)

  • October 6, 2022 UPDATE

    October 6, 2022 UPDATE

    EPC The EU unity can be consolidated if Romania, Bulgaria
    and Croatia are becoming part of the Schengen area, Romanian president Klaus
    Iohannis said in Prague on Thursday. Leaders of 42 countries have convened in
    the Czech capital for a first meeting of the European Political Community (EPC)
    a new structure proposed by French president Emmanuel Macron in response to the
    war Russia is presently waging on Ukraine. The Russian invasion has caused a
    total geopolitical rethinking and the EPC wants to be a cooperation platform on
    security issues between the EU countries and its partners on the continent, candidates
    or non-candidates to accession. During the informal meeting of the European
    Council, due in Prague on Friday, the EU leaders are expected to be tackling
    the situation in Ukraine from the angle of the response to Russia’s escalating
    the conflict as well as providing financial, political, military and
    humanitarian support to Ukraine. The situation on the energy market will also
    be high on the agenda from the viewpoint of the impact of the latest price
    hikes and energy security.








    NOBEL French writer Annie Ernaux has
    reaped the Nobel Prize in literature this year. According to the Swedish
    Academy in Stockholm, Ernaux has been awarded the prize for the courage and
    clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective
    restrains of personal memory. Last year the Nobel prize in literature went to Tanzanian-born
    British novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah.








    REFUGEES The Border Police
    General Inspectorate (IGPF) informs that on Wednesday, 71,642 people, including
    8,486 Ukrainian citizens, entered Romania through border points throughout the
    country, an increase of about 10% compared to the previous day. According to a
    communiqué sent on Thursday, starting on February 10, 2022, two weeks before
    the Russian army invaded Ukraine, 2,508,047 Ukrainian citizens have entered
    Romania. Most of them continued their journey to Western European countries,
    but, according to the Romanian Interior Ministry, more than 4,300 applied for
    and received asylum in Romania and benefit from all the rights provided by the
    national legislation. About 70 thousand others have residence permits, for the
    beneficiaries of temporary protection.








    IAEA The head of the International Atomic Energy
    Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, will try to talk with officials in Kyiv and
    Moscow about the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the occupied
    southern Ukraine, the largest in Europe, which the Russians have taken hold of
    as part of the so-called annexation of the region. For weeks on end, the plant
    has been the target of intense bombing, for which Moscow and Kyiv have blamed
    each other, and which fueled fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Russian President
    Vladimir Putin has said the military situation will stabilize in
    the annexed Ukrainian territories, where his forces are suffering a series of
    setbacks against Kiev’s army. Ukraine had announced that it had again gained
    ground in the Luhansk region (east), after the successes in Kherson (south) and
    Kharkov (northeast). In what analysts call a sign of confusion in Russia, the
    army’s failures prompted a senior parliamentary official, deputy Andrei
    Kartapolov, a former military commander, to ask defense ministry chiefs to
    stop lying about the defeats.






    WAR Ukraine has announced its forces have recaptured
    several localities in the southern region of Kherson, one of the four regions
    partly occupied and illegally annexed by Russia. The Ukrainian counteroffensive
    continues, president Zelensky has said. On Wednesday, Russian president
    Vladimir Putin signed the documents for the annexation of the regions of
    Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in spite of the failures his army
    is facing on the ground. Putin has also signed a decree to make official the capturing
    by his forces of the nuclear power plant of Zaporizhzhia. The plant, which is the
    biggest of this kind in Europe is still being exploited by Ukrainian employees.
    Russia and Ukraine have been accusing each other of shelling its neighbourhood.




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  • October 6, 2022

    October 6, 2022

    EPC – Leaders from 42 countries are meeting today in Prague for the first meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), a new structure proposed by the French President Emmanuel Macron in response to Russias war in Ukraine. The Russian invasion generated a total geopolitical rethinking, and the EPC wants to be a platform for cooperation on security issues between EU countries and the partners on the continent, candidates for accession or not. Romania is represented by the president Klaus Iohannis, who, together with the leaders from the countries of the EU bloc, will talk with the presidents of Turkey, Ukraine, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking population) about the peace and security of the whole of Europe, the economic situation, energy, climate and migration. During the informal meeting of the European Council, which will take place on Friday, also in Prague, the EU leaders will address the situation in Ukraine from the perspective of the European response to Russias moves to escalate the conflict and of the continuation of providing support to Ukraine on the financial, political, military and humanitarian levels. Also, the situation on the energy market will be addressed from the point of view of the impact of the high energy prices on the cost of living and the efforts to ensure the security of energy supply.



    Refugees — The Border Police General Inspectorate (IGPF) informs that on Wednesday, 71,642 people, including 8,486 Ukrainian citizens, entered Romania through border points throughout the country, an increase of about 10% compared to the previous day. According to a communiqué sent on Thursday, starting on February 10, 2022, two weeks before the Russian army invaded Ukraine, 2,508,047 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania. Most of them continued their journey to Western European countries, but, according to the Romanian Interior Ministry, more than 4,300 applied for and received asylum in Romania and benefit from all the rights provided by the national legislation. About 70 thousand others have residence permits, for the beneficiaries of temporary protection.



    Moldova – The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet country with a majority Romanian-speaking population) votes, on Thursday, on the request of the pro-Western Government led by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița regarding the extension of the state of emergency for another 60 days, in the context of the war in neighboring Ukraine. As the prime ministers party, Action and Solidarity (PAS), has about two-thirds of the 101 deputies mandates, the vote would be a simple formality. According to the government, the need to extend the state of emergency, starting on October 7, is caused by the persistent risks regarding the security of the supply of the Republic of Moldova with energy resources, the possible new flows of refugees from Ukraine and the need to ensure security at the border. The state of emergency was introduced on February 27, three days after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and was later extended. By introducing the state of emergency, the Parliament cedes part of its powers to the Commission for Exceptional Situations, led by the head of the Government.



    Football — On Thursday evening Romanias football champions, CFR Cluj (north-west), will take on Slavia Prague, away from home, in a match counting for Group G of the Conference League. In the same group, Sivasspor, from Turkey will be up against Ballkani, from Kosovo. After two stages, Slavia takes first place in the group, with 4 points, followed by Sivasspor, 4 points, Ballkani, 1 point, and CFR, 1 point. Also on Thursday and also away from home, the vice-champions of Romania, FCSB, from Bucharest, meet the Danish team Silkeborg, in Group B, in which the match between the Belgians from Anderlecht Brussels and the English from West Ham United is also scheduled. West Ham is the leader, with 6 points, Anderlect has 4, FCSB 1 point, and the Danes have zero points.



    IAEA — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, will try to talk with officials in Kyiv and Moscow about the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the occupied southern Ukraine, the largest in Europe, which the Russians have taken hold of as part of the so-called annexation of the region. For weeks on end, the plant has been the target of intense bombing, for which Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other, and which fueled fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the military situation will “stabilize” in the annexed Ukrainian territories, where his forces are suffering a series of setbacks against Kievs army. Ukraine had announced that it had again gained ground in the Luhansk region (east), after the successes in Kherson (south) and Kharkov (northeast). In what analysts call a sign of confusion in Russia, the armys failures prompted a senior parliamentary official, deputy Andrei Kartapolov, a former military commander, to ask defense ministry chiefs to “stop lying” about the defeats. (LS)

  • October 2, 2022

    October 2, 2022

    Statement — Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, along with seven other presidents of several NATO member states from Central and Eastern Europe, namely the presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland and Slovakia, signed a joint statement reiterating their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. “We firmly support the decision of the NATO Summit in Bucharest of 2008 regarding the future accession of Ukraine,” Klaus Iohannis said in a post on a social network. We remind you that on September 30, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed Ukraines request for an accelerated accession to NATO. The Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, stated that Ukraine has the right to apply for membership, but emphasized that, at the moment, the priority is providing aid to Kyiv. Support for Ukraines accession to NATO has already been expressed by the Baltic States and Canada.



    Visit — The Romanian Defense Minister, Vasile Dîncu, said on Saturday, during his official visit to Chisinau, that NATO was not looking for a confrontation with the Russian Federation and that it unequivocally supported the sovereignty, integrity and independence of neighboring Ukraine. According to a Defense Ministry communiqué, Vasile Dincu analyzed, during the discussions with Prime Minister Natalia Gavriliţa, the state of bilateral cooperation, also in a regional context. The discussions also covered the security situation in the area, highlighting the actions taken by both sides to manage the unprecedented number of refugees from Ukraine, as well as the energy crisis generated by Russia. During the meeting with the President of the Moldovan Parliament, Igor Grosu, the Defense Minister stated, among other things, that the war in Ukraine triggered multiple crises. He highlighted the role of the two countries’ Parliaments in creating the legislative framework for strengthening resilience, especially in the energy field. Vasile Dîncu also had a meeting with his counterpart Anatolie Nosatîi with whom he discussed the status and prospects of bilateral cooperation in the military field and the regional security situation. At the same time, he reiterated Romanias full support for Moldova’s advance on the European integration path and the development of its relations with the Euro-Atlantic structures.



    IAEA — The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, will travel to Kyiv and Moscow next week. According to an IAEA press release, the visit is part of ongoing efforts to “implement as soon as possible a nuclear safety and security zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant”. On the other hand, Germany has announced that it will deliver to Ukraine the first of its four advanced IRIS-T air defense systems to help it repel drone attacks. The announcement was made on Saturday by the German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht during a surprise visit to Odessa. The Black Sea port has been, in recent days, the target of Russian attacks with Iranian-made kamikaze drones. On the ground, Russia announced that it had withdrawn its troops from the strategic Ukrainian city of Liman, amid fears that thousands of Russian soldiers would be surrounded by Ukrainian troops in the city. Retaking the city of Liman is of significant strategic importance for Ukraine, considering that it is located in the Donetsk region, one of the four regions annexed according to the Russian President Vladimir Putin.



    Nord Stream — Germany announced on Saturday that it would set up a joint team with Denmark and Sweden to investigate the leaks that affected the Nord Stream gas pipelines. According to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the team will call on the expertise of the “navy, police and intelligence services”, following the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines. The origin of the explosions is not yet known. The Nord Stream 1 (stopped since the end of August) and 2 (not operational) gas pipelines were strategic installations for the direct delivery of Russian gas to Germany. A spokesman for the operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, from Russia, said that there were no more gas leaks from it into the Baltic Sea. Huge amounts of methane gas have leaked from the pipeline in recent days. In the context, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announced that the EU leaders would discuss the security of the EUs critical infrastructures, on the occasion of the informal summit scheduled for October 7 in Prague, after the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which European officials described as sabotage.



    Justice — As of Monday, the MPs from the Special Committee on Justice Laws will resume the debates on the three bills submitted by the Government. This week, the Committee ended the debates on the articles of the bill on the status of magistrates, adopting several amendments. One of them concerns the appointment of high-ranking prosecutors. Therefore, the general prosecutor of Romania could be appointed not only from among prosecutors, but also from among judges. The vote on the report for this bill is scheduled for Monday. As of Tuesday, debates will start in the special committee on the amendments submitted by senators to the draft law on the organization and functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy. The bill on the status of judges and prosecutors is the law from the package of Justice laws debated by the committee, after those related to the Superior Council of Magistracy and the organization of the judiciary, which have already been adopted by the plenum of the Chamber of Deputies. This is the first body referred to in the case of the three laws, with the Senate being the decision-making body. (LS)

  • August 25, 2022 UPDATE

    August 25, 2022 UPDATE

    WAR Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia,
    presently under the control of the Russian troops, has been completely disconnected
    from the main grid, the Ukrainian operator Energoatom announced on Thursday,
    AFP and Reuters report. The plant’s last two reactors have been shut down after
    fires in the areas affected the electric lines. The aggressors’ actions have
    prompted the authorities to shut down the plant for the first time in its
    history Energoatom says adding that the plant’s security systems are
    functioning normally. For the past three weeks, Kiev and Moscow have been
    accusing each other of having bombed the plant amid fears of a new Chernobyl.
    The plant in Zaporizhzhia is under the control of the Russian troops but it is
    being operated by Ukrainian personnel.










    SCHEME The Romanian government has
    approved a minimal state aid scheme, under which grants are provided to promote
    the circular economy, an economic system, in which the value of the products,
    materials and other economic resources is maintained as long as possible,
    increasing their effectiveness and thus reducing the negative impact on the
    environment. Ranging between 15 thousand and 200 thousand Euros, the grants are
    aimed at boosting investment in the field. The scheme’s maximum budget stays
    around 8 million Euros, out of which 2 million for 2022 and the rest for the
    period between 2023 and 2025.










    TRADE Romanian live animal exports
    decreased by almost 17% in the first five months of 2022, as compared to the
    same period of last year, and totaled almost 183 million Euros – according to
    the National Institute of Statistics. Live animal imports also decreased by
    18%, reaching over 66 million Euros. Thus, a trade surplus of 116 million Euros
    was recorded. In another development, in the first five months of the year,
    Romania exported meat and meat products worth 223 million Euros and imported
    meat products worth 532 million Euros. The resulting deficit is almost 350
    million Euros, data provided by the National Institute of Statistics also show.








    VOLLEYBALL Romania’s women’s national
    volleyball team, coached by the Spanish Guillermo Naranjo Hernandez, defeated
    the Faroe Islands 3-0 on Wednesday evening in Torshavn in a Group A match of
    the 2023 European Championship qualifiers. Also on Wednesday, Croatia defeated
    Israel 3-1, away from home. On August 28, the derby of the group will take
    place between Croatia and Romania. Romania and Croatia have two wins each in
    the group standings, while Israel and the Faroe Islands have 0 points. The
    teams ranked on the first two places qualify for next year’s final tournament.












    FESTIVAL More than 600 representatives
    of the 20 national minorities in Romania are expected, as of Thursday until
    August 28, at the 18th edition of the ProEtnica Intercultural
    Festival in Sighişoara (center). After the festive opening, followed a debate
    on Promoting peace through non-discrimination and solidarity in a crisis
    context. At the same time, the festival schedule also includes 60
    traditional dance and music performances by ensembles of national minorities,
    art and photography exhibitions, a ‘Literary Salon’ where writers of national
    minorities present their creations, lectures, round tables and workshops.
    According to the organizers, this year, in a complicated moment for the peace
    of Europe, the ProEtnica Festival brings the peaceful message of intercultural
    dialogue in Romania, as a model of pacifist dialogue between countries and
    peoples.






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