March 5, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 05.03.2022, 18:36

Refugees. Romanias President Klaus Iohannis visited on Saturday the mobile refugee camp in Siret, Suceava county (northeast). The total capacity of the camps in the county is 1,977 and there are still 1,400 free places. Some 9,455 Ukrainian citizens have crossed the border with Romania in the last 24 hours. Also on Saturday, PM Nicolae Ciuca announced that some 10 million Euro were spent from the state budget to help the refugees. He also said that, next week, the Romanian Government will send to Brussels all the documents needed to have this spending reimbursed from European funds.

Visit. US Vice President Kamala Harris will pay a visit to Poland and Romania on March 9-11 to convey USs support for the two countries at a time when war is wreaking havoc on Ukraine, the White House has announced. “Her visit will demonstrate the strength and unity of the NATO Alliance and U.S. support for NATOs eastern flank allies in the face of Russian aggression. It will also highlight our collective efforts to support the people of Ukraine,” reads the statement on the Vice Presidents travel. The Vice Presidents meetings will also focus on how the United States can further support Ukraines neighbors as they welcome and care for refugees fleeing violence. Figures provided by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) show that more than 1.2 million people have fled the war in Ukraine triggered by the invasion of Russian forces. The US Vice Presidents last international trip was last month to the Munich Security Conference, where she met with US allies and partners, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine. Authorities of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol have decided to postpone the evacuation of civilians because they are not safe on the streets. The municipality says that the agreed evacuation route is being bombarded continuously by the Russians. The city council had announced earlier that Russia was not fully complying with the agreed ceasefire, and Ukrainian authorities started looking into reports that Russian troops were actually using the temporary truce to advance into Mariupol. Meanwhile, Russias Defense Ministry has said that no one used the two humanitarian corridors set up on Saturday near the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha and accused Ukrainian nationalists of preventing the civilians from leaving. Moreover, the ministry has also reported that the Russian troops were attacked after setting up the humanitarian corridors.

Moldova. The President of the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet, mostly Romanian-speaking), pro-Western Maia Sandu, will meet on Sunday, March 6, with the Secretary of State of the United States of America, Antony J. Blinken, Radio Chisinau has announced. Blinken is on a tour of six European countries. His visit comes amid the inflow of refugees from Ukraine into Moldova and after the pro-Russian separatist regime in Transnistria (east) again called on Chisinau on Friday to initiate a dialogue on what it calls the final settlement of relations based on the peaceful, good-neighborly existence of two independent states, by signing a comprehensive interstate agreement. Transnistria got de facto out of the control of the central authorities in 1992, after an armed conflict that resulted in hundreds of deaths and was ended by the intervention of Russian troops on the part of the separatists. The request came after the Republic of Moldova decided to apply for accession to the European Union. The separatists claim that the decision of the Chisinau authorities translates into an intention to transfer the sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova to the supranational bodies in Brussels and to let the West use the territory of the Republic of Moldova militarily, politically and economically.

Exercise. American B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew over Romania and NATOs eastern flank on Friday, in exercises with the Romanian and German armies, as a sign of unity, against the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine entering the second week, CNN reports. The largest US Air Force strategic bombers took off from RAF Fairford, a Royal British Air Force center, and conducted close air support training and integration missions, according to a statement from the US Air Force in Europe. The B-52 bombers then flew to Romania, where they conducted a close air support training. The overflight across the Romanian airspace brought the bombers closer to the limit of the NATO countries, adjacent to the Ukrainian airspace, where the Russian aviation is trying to establish its air supremacy.

Covid-19. More than 4,800 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were registered in 24 hours in Romania, the authorities in Bucharest have announced. 82 related deaths have also been reported, two of which prior to the reference period. On Friday, President Klaus Iohannis announced that the state of alert would not be extended in Romania after March 8. The president has said that the COVID-19 epidemic is now on an accelerated downward trend, and wave 5 is about to end. Established in May 2020, after a two-month state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of alert has led to numerous restrictions, which have affected economic development and social cohesion in the country. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, over 2.7 million cases of COVID-19 have been registered in Romania, and over 63 thousand people infected with the new coronavirus have died.

Eurovision. The song that will represent Romania at Eurovision 2022 will be chosen, on Saturday evening, at the Eurovision National Selection, organized by the Romanian Television. The show will feature a recital by Ukrainian artist Jamala, winner of the 2016 European Song Contest. Jamala, a refugee from the hell unleashed in her country, will perform the song 1944, which took Eurovision to Kyiv. Eurovision 2022 will take place in Italy, in Turin, with the semifinals on May 10 and 12 and the final on May 14. Romania will enter the competition on May 12. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced on February 25 that no Russian artist will take part in this years Eurovision Song Contest, as this would “discredit the competition”. Romanias best performances at Eurovision were: twice the third place (Luminiţa Anghel & Sistem – Kyiv, 2005; Paula Seling and Ovi – Oslo, 2010) and once the fourth place (Mihai Trăistariu – Athens, 2006) . (MI)