February 21, 2023 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 21.02.2023, 20:00

UKRAINE The US
president Joe Biden Tuesday praised the Ukrainians’ resilience in the face of
the Russian invasion launched nearly a year ago. Speaking at a rally in Warsaw,
he emphasized that the US support for Ukraine remained unwavering and that the
free world condemned Russia’s aggression. Biden added that he also wanted the
people of the Republic of Moldova to be truly free, and called on participants
to applaud Moldova’s president Maia Sandu, attending the assembly. Previously,
in Moscow, president Vladimir Putin announced Russia would suspend its
participation in the New START treaty with the US on the reduction of strategic
nuclear weapons. The statement was made at the end of his state-of-the-nation address,
ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24th February,
and after the US president Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv. On Wednesday,
Biden is due to meet the leaders of Bucharest Nine, a group of NATO countries
from central and eastern Europe formed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea at
the proposal of the presidents of Romania and Poland, Klaus Iohannis and Andrej
Duda, respectively. The NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said that
with Russia’s decision on the latest START Treaty full arms control
architecture has been dismantled. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels
with the participation of Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs,
and Josep Borrell, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, Stoltenberg added
that Moscow was the aggressor in Ukraine, after Vladimir Putin had claimed that
the West was trying to destroy Russia.

PENSIONS In Bucharest, USR and the Force of the Right parties in opposition
Tuesday tabled a simple motion against the labour minister Marius Budăi, whom
they accuse of incompetence and carelessness. They argue that Budăi is
protecting special pensions (which are not based on contributions to pension
funds) thus jeopardising the EU funding Romania should receive under the
National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Meanwhile, the Senate has once again
postponed the bill reforming special pensions, for 2 weeks, until relevant ministries
have submitted estimates of its impact on the budget and stated whether the
bill complies with Resilience Plan benchmarks. The World Bank is also expected
to state its view on the matter.

TURKEY Rescuers
in Turkey are carrying out new searches for people trapped under the rubble as
a new quake hit the south-east of the country on Monday night, in the same
region as the devastating earthquakes that took place two weeks ago. According
to official reports, six persons were killed and 200 wounded in the latest
tremor. Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is running for a new term
in May if elections are held on schedule, says his country would start building
tens of thousands of new homes next month, a move estimated to cost at least 25
billion dollars. Erdogan’s rapid reconstruction plans worry architects and
engineers, who are concerned that the lack of urban planning and careful
assessment of building safety may lead to a new disaster.

CULTURE Two
books about Constantin Brâncuşi were launched in Timişoara, which this year is
holding the title of European Capital of Culture. The books, which recently
appeared in France, are written by Doina Lemny, art historian and researcher at
the National Museum of Modern Art and the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The launch
previews an extensive exhibition dedicated to the great Romanian sculptor next
autumn at Timişoara’s Museum of Art. According to the city’s mayor Dominic
Fritz, around 60,000 people attended the over 130 different events held in
Timişoara this weekend during the official opening of the European Capital of
Culture programme. The city will be playing host to around 1,000 different
cultural events all year long. (AMP, CM)