March 11, 2022
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 11.03.2022, 13:54
Visit — The US Vice President, Kamala Harris, arrives today, for the first time, in Romania, on the second stage of a diplomatic tour she has started in Europe. She is present in the region to discuss the war in Ukraine and to assure the allies on NATOs eastern flank that the United States is supporting them. President Klaus Iohannis and the US Vice President will discuss, in Bucharest, the measures to strengthen NATOs defense and deterrence posture the eastern flank. At the same time, they will approach the prospect of increasing the American and allied military presence in Romania, as an additional measure to ensure the security of the country and of the entire region. On the other hand, the two will talk about transatlantic coordination on imposing new sanctions on Russia. The visit takes place in the context of the 25th anniversary, in 2022, of the launch of the bilateral Strategic Partnership. On Thursday, Kamala Harris visited Poland, where she said the US was ready to defend every inch of the North Atlantic Alliance territory. At the same time, she gave assurances that Ukraine would receive all the help it needs and added that Russia would continue to face severe consequences and costs.
Ukraine — On the 16th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian troops are advancing slowly towards Kyiv today, and new bombings have been reported in Mariupol (southeast). Moreover, the Russian troops launched airstrikes on the Ukrainian cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk (west). In turn, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that in the Chernihiv region (north) the Russian troops are suffering serious losses in the fight against Ukrainians, the invaders being demoralized and surrendering. On the other hand, the Russian leader Vladimir Putin is meeting in Moscow with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The two will discuss the conflict, and also economic cooperation, in the context of the Western sanctions. Western countries have also imposed new sanctions on Belarus, which hosted Russian troops on its territory, troops that launched attacks on Ukraine. On Thursday, the negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Dmitro Kuleba, mediated by Turkey in Antalya, did not report any progress towards a ceasefire in Ukraine. They only discussed the promise to continue the humanitarian efforts to evacuate civilians, without any firm commitment from Moscow though. The G7 countries have announced that they will soon introduce a new package of sanctions against Russia, following one of the largest attacks by one state against another in Europe since World War II. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have been evacuated in the past two days, according to the authorities.
Summit – The war in Ukraine and its consequences on the economies and lives of European citizens are being discussed by the EU heads of state and government also on the 2nd day of the Versailles summit organized by the French presidency of the EU Council. Romania is represented at the summit by President Klaus Iohannis. The EU continues to provide humanitarian, medical and financial assistance to the refugees from Ukraine and to their host countries, European leaders said in a statement today. They reiterated that the EU would provide protection to all Ukrainian refugees. At the same time, the EU is calling on Russia to abide by international humanitarian rules and to ensure the safety of civilians who want to leave the country and to allow humanitarian aid to reach victims and those seeking refuge in Ukraine without any obstacle. On the other hand, the 27 officials continue today to discuss the plan proposed by the European Commission, which provides for the reduction, by two thirds, this year, of the Russian gas imports, so that by 2030 no EU country should buy any more hydrocarbons from Russia. The Russian gas accounts for more than 40% of European consumption and four complementary options are currently being considered: imports from other countries, diversification of energy sources – liquefied gas and shale gas, making consistent gas stocks before each winter and accelerating the development of energy from non-polluting sources.
Talks — The US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has had telephone conversations with the Romanian and Bulgarian defense ministers about the situation in Ukraine and the issues related to NATO consolidation, a Pentagon spokesperson said. In a discussion with the Romanian defense minister Vasile Dîncu, the US official underlined the need for permanent coordination between NATO allies in connection with the events in Ukraine. The Pentagon chief welcomed Romanias intentions to host a humanitarian aid logistics center and discussed plans for deploying a French-led multinational fighting group in Romania. Lloyd Austin also spoke with the Bulgarian defense minister Dragomir Zakov about Bulgarias plans to form a NATO-led multinational fighting group on its territory.
Pandemic — Almost 3,000 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours were announced on Friday in Romania. 50 deaths were also reported of which 3 from the previous reference period. Less than 4,000 people are hospitalized, 608 being in intensive care. After almost two years of alert, all the restrictions imposed by the pandemic have been lifted in Romania since March 9. On the other hand, the authorities announce that the vaccination against COVID-19 is moving to the family doctors offices. The vaccination rate is still low, with just over 8.1 million people being fully vaccinated. (LS)
