February 28, 2022 UPDATE

Romanian Parliament adopts declaration condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine./ First Russian-Ukrainian talks end in Belarus.

Newsroom, 28.02.2022, 18:21

Declaration. Romanian Parliament adopted a declaration condemning
Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, calling for the withdrawal of all Russian
troops and expressing full support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity and its legitimate ambitions to join NATO and the European Union. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Romania for the support given to his
country and for significant contribution to its defence. In a message posted on
social media, he thanked the president of Romania Klaus Iohannis for supporting
Ukraine’s EU accession. In another move, the European Commissioner for Home
Affairs Ylva Johansson thanked the Romanian authorities and citizens for their
support of the Ukrainian refugees coming into Romania. She visited the Siret
refugee camp on Romania’s northern border with Ukraine before talks with
Romanian president Klaus Iohannis and prime minister Nicolae Ciucă in Bucharest, as well as interior
minister Lucian Bode. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian nationals have crossed
into neighbouring Romania in recent days. Romanians have mobilised to help the
people in Ukraine forced to abandon their homes. Fund raising events are held across
the country, with volunteers making sure aid reaches the border areas. The
National Defence Ministry has prepared all its 11 military hospitals to receive
troops injured in Ukraine.

Ukraine. Talks between Russian and Ukrainian
delegations held in Belarus have ended, with both sides reportedly returning to
their capital cities for further consultations before a new round of talks
could take place in the next few days, news agencies are reporting. Ukraine
called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory, while Russian
leader Vladimir Putin wants recognition of Moscow’s control of Crimea and the demilitarisation
of Kyiv. In another move, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky signed his
country’s formal application to join the European Union. Also on Monday, during
a phone conversation with Vladimir Putin, French president Emmanuel Macron
reiterated the calls of the international community for Russia to halt its
offensive in Ukraine. Russia in the meantime is becoming increasingly isolated politically
and economically, as it becomes the target of further financial sanctions,
including being cut off the SWIFT financial network and a freeze on the assets
of its Central Bank. Switzerland also set aside its neutrality to impose
sanctions on Russia. On the ground, the Russian forces continue to meet stiff
resistance in the capital Kyiv and other cities.

Bill. The Romanian Senate
passed a bill on the dismantling of a special department to investigate crimes
in the judiciary. Initiated by the justice ministry and adopted last week by
the Chamber of Deputies, the bill provides for the dismantling of the
department, with its responsibilities to be taken over by regular prosecutor’s
offices and its cases to be assigned to special prosecutors appointed by the
prosecutor general of the prosecutor’s office of the High Court of Cassation
and Justice at the proposal of the Superior Council of Magistracy for a period
of 4 years. The special department to investigate magistrates and prosecutors
was created in 2018 but the move was criticised by the European Commission
which feared it was only set up to transfer sensitive cases away from the
National Anticorruption Directorate.

COVID-19. Romania on Monday reported more than 4,700 new Covid
infections and 61 related deaths, including four from an earlier date. The
largest number of cases since the start of the pandemic, 40,018 was reported on
February 1. In the capital Bucharest, the infection rate is 22 cases per one thousand
inhabitants. Fewer than 1,000 patients are in intensive care. Public health
experts insist that vaccination remains the most efficient way to prevent death
and severe illness. (CM)