June 17, 2022
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 17.06.2022, 14:19
VISIT – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has today received the King of Belgium, Philippe, at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in south-eastern Romania. The two officials are holding talks and will meet with military of Romania, Belgium and other countries, stationed at the military base after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The security situation in Eastern Europe is the main point on the agenda of talks between President Iohannis and King Philippe. The visit is held in the context of consolidated high-level bilateral dialogue and of a strong Romanian-Belgian cooperation in the field of defence. Belgium is participating with one military contingent to the NATO battle group in Romania. Some 300 Belgian and 500 French troops at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base form the spearhead of NATO’s rapid reaction force. French President Emmanuel Macron also visited the base two days ago, occasion on which President Klaus Iohannis said the two countries have excellent ties. Romania and France have increased their security cooperation recently, amid the crisis generated by Russias military aggression in Ukraine, said Romanian president Klaus Iohannis after talks with his French counterpart. During a joint press briefing, Iohannis again thanked France for the deployment of military and its coordination of NATOs new battle group in Romania.
UKRAINE — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the day of the visit to Kyiv of the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania as a truly historic day. ”Ukraine felt the support of four powerful European states at once,” Zelensky said about Thursday’s meeting, adding that his country “has come closest to the European Union since independence.” The European Commission is to announce later today if it grants Ukraine official status as EU candidate country.
REFUGEES — The Romanian Border Police has announced that 100,644 people entered Romania on Thursday, of whom 9,766 Ukrainian citizens. Of them, 5,557 crossed the border into Romania from Ukraine and 1,156 from Moldova. Since February 24 until Thursday, some 1,221,710 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania.
DOPING — The head of the Romanian Weightlifting Federation, former Olympic champion Nicu Vlad, and the Hungarian Tamas Ajan have been banned from the sport for life for covering up doping offences, the International Testing Agency (ITA) in Lausanne announced on Thursday. Tamas Ajan had been head of the IWF for 20 years before resigning in 2020, while Nicu Vlad was vice-president of the international organization. They were both given lifetime bans by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, for “covering up, delaying and obstructing results management for certain athletes that committed anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs),” the ITA said in a statement. According to Reuters, the ITA, an independent organisation which implements anti-doping programmes for international federations, has taken over the IWF doping programme in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics. The charges relate to nearly 150 unsolved doping cases between 2009 and 2019.
TENNIS – Two Romanians are playing the quarterfinals today at the WTA tennis tournament in Birmingham. Simona Halep, two-time Grand Slam champion and former World No.1, who plays on the grass for the first time since winning Wimbledon in 2019, has reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set. Halep, seeded second, defeated Harriet Dart on Wednesday, 6-3, 6-2, to set a last eight clash with Katie Boulter of Britain. Also today, another Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, will be against Donna Vekic. (EE)
