March 2, 2022 UPDATE

UN General Assembly adopts resolution deploring Russian aggression against Ukraine and demanding Russia withdraw its troops./ European Commission president von der Leyen to travel to Romania.

România Internațional, 02.03.2022, 18:37

UN. The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution that deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands that Russia immediately withdraws all its military forces from Ukraine. Voted by 141 of the 193 UN member states, the resolution was adopted at the end of a rare emergency session of the General Assembly called by the UN Security Council at a time when Russian forces are conducting air raids and bombardments on Ukraine, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee. More than 2,000 civilians have been killed and hundreds of structures destroyed, including transport facilities, kindergartens and homes, Ukraine’s emergency service said on Wednesday. British prime minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine because of the munitions used against civilians. The International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor announced the start of a formal investigation as rapidly as possible, saying there is reasonable basis to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine. The International Criminal Court, which is the United Nations’ highest court, said it would hold hearings on 7th and 8th of March on Ukrainian allegations of genocide in the conflict.

Refugees. European Commission
president Ursula von der Leyen and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi will be in Bucharest on Thursday for
talks with president Klaus Iohannis, before travelling to Slovakia. Von der
Leyen is visiting the two countries to discuss the situation in Ukraine and
European support for refugees. Thousands of people are pouring into Romania
from the neighbouring Ukraine, mostly women and children. Volunteers from all
corners of Romania are offering to help in a show of solidarity with their
Ukrainian neighbours, by raising funds, collecting relief and opening their
homes to women with children, while high capacity venues are being turned into
accommodation centres. At the border crossing point in Siret, in the
north-east, together with UNICEF Romania, UNICEF experts and volunteer social
workers and psychologists are providing counselling and access to specialised
services for refugees. In another move, two
persons injured in Ukraine were transferred to the Military Hospital in Galaţi,
in south-eastern Romania. The two, a 40-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man,
both with shot wounds, had undergone surgery in Ukraine and are now stable.
This is for the first time that people injured in the conflict in Ukraine are
receiving treatment at a hospital in Romania.

NATO. The Romanian government issued an emergency order to scrap airport
and flight charges for NATO aircraft. Transport minister Sorin Grindeanu said
the move will simplify military cooperation on the NATO eastern flank, forming
part of Romania’s efforts to ensure a unitary and balanced military presence on
this flank and consolidate military cooperation in the Black Sea region, while
also sending a message of solidarity in the current situation. 500 French and
300 Belgian military from the land-based unit of the NATO Response Force are
joining Romanian military as part of measures to consolidate the NATO eastern
flank. Defence minister Vasile Dîncu, who on Wednesday met his German counterpart
Christine Lambrecht at the air base in Mihail Kogălniceanu, said European
security is under serious threat and that Russia’s attack must end. A German
detachment of some 70 military, including pilots and technical staff, as well
as six Eurofighter Typhoon planes are deployed to Romania. The latter are
conducting enhanced air policing missions under NATO command together with
Romanian and Italian Air Force military. The Italian embassy in Bucharest
announced on Wednesday that Italy is doubling to 8 the number of Eurofighter
2000 planes operating in Romania as part of air policing missions.

Energy. Romanian energy minister Virgil Popescu met the president of
Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during a trip to Baku. The two officials discussed the collaboration
in the field of energy and Europe’s supply with Azeri gas. Minister Popescu
thanked president Aliyev for his efforts to implement the Southern Gas Corridor
and his significant contribution to the security of gas deliveries to Europe.
He reiterated Romania’s intention to include the transport infrastructure
provided by the Romania-Bulgaria interconnection and the BRUA gas pipeline into
plans for the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor to the Balkans and Central
Europe.

Corruption. The former Social Democrat mayor of Bucharest’s Sector 1,
Daniel Tudorache, was indicted by anti-corruption prosecutors for complicity to
peddling in influence and money laundering. Prosecutors are saying that between
September 2016 and May 2017, a person close to Tudorache, who is also indicted
in this case, requested from a business man a 10% commission on a service
contract with a Sector 1 public institution. Prosecutors say Tudorache was the
only beneficiary of the sums received via the intermediary. (CM)