June 20, 2026 UPDATE

The latest news from RRI

Newsroom, 20.06.2026, 20:00

Meeting – Romania’s President Nicuşor Dan announced on Saturday, after meeting in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Bucharest and Ankara would expand their bilateral strategic partnership, with a focus on security in the Black Sea. Dan specified that the discussions also aimed at protecting submarine infrastructure, given that Romania has an interest in exploiting natural gas from the Black Sea. Collaboration in the defense industry was also mentioned and the preparation of the NATO summit in the Turkish capital, scheduled for July 7 and 8, was discussed. Also on Saturday, the newest light corvette intended for the Romanian Naval Forces received its flag during a ceremony organized at the Istanbul Shipyard, where it was produced. With the hull number 261 and the name “Rear Admiral August Roman”, the ship can perform missions in all naval action environments, surface, anti-aircraft and anti-submarine.

PNRR – Romania has successfully completed technical negotiations with the European Commission on the latest amendment to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and is keeping over 20 billion Euros of the non-refundable money component, announced the interim minister of investments and European projects in the Romanian government, Dragoş Pîslaru. He argued that, despite the adjustment of some indicators and the reformulation of some milestones, the essential objectives of the reforms and investments undertaken were preserved, while major risks of penalties, which could have amounted to billions of Euros lost, were eliminated. Following the discussions, the minister also said, concrete solutions were obtained for important projects in infrastructure, health, energy, digitalization, education and the environment, and mechanisms were agreed upon that allow the recognition of the progress already made, so that they can be fully implemented by the deadline of August 31. More details on this subject will be communicated at the beginning of next week, Pîslaru also said.

Liberal Party – The leader of the Romanian National Liberal Party (PNL), interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, submitted his candidacy for a new term as party president on Saturday. This will be validated during the party’s extraordinary congress, which will take place on Sunday. According to a PNL press release, the candidacy was submitted together with the motion entitled “Modernization with roots” and the leadership team proposed by Bolojan. This was the only motion submitted. The Prime Minister designate, dissident Adrian Veştea, who had announced his intention to run against Bolojan, stated that he would not enter the competition again. Also on Sunday, the Social Demcoratic Party (PSD) convened a meeting of the National Political Council to make a decision on supporting the new executive, which it conditions on the introduction of measures to protect the population and revive the economy in the governing program.

Contest – 150 young musicians from over 20 countries have been selected to participate in the first stage of the “George Enescu” International Classical Music Competition, the violin, cello and piano sections, which will take place in Bucharest, from August 29 to September 19. A record number of 645 candidates from 55 countries registered for the pre-selection. The youngest competitor, qualified for the first stage, is an American violinist aged only 12.

Sentence – The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) states that it has been following since December 2024 the case of the Romanian sentenced on Friday by a Russian court to 15 years in prison for providing Ukraine, invaded by Moscow’s troops, with information about the location of air defense systems in the city of Sochi, on the Black Sea. ‘During this period, steps were taken both through the Romanian Embassy in Moscow and at the level of the Romanian Foreign Ministry, to protect the rights of the Romanian citizen within the framework established by the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963). From the information communicated by the Romanian diplomatic mission in Moscow, the decision to sentence the Romanian citizen to 15 years of imprisonment with execution remained final on June 19, 2026, by rejecting the appeal. The information has not yet been officially notified by the Russian authorities’, a statement from the MAE states. According to the cited source, despite repeated steps by the MAE, the Russian authorities did not give their consent to the visit of the Romanian citizen in prison by representatives of the Romanian diplomatic mission in Moscow, as part of the consular assistance steps, nor to the possibility of him corresponding with his family. The MAE, through the Consular Office Department is in permanent contact with the family of the Romanian citizen. The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that it will continue the necessary steps, which are binding to the Romanian state, to provide consular assistance and equally binding to the Russian Federation, established by the aforementioned treaty.

Arson – Two people, of Romanian and Ukrainian origin, have been sentenced in London to two and seven years in prison respectively for attempted arson attacks on properties linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. One of the fires targeted the Labor Party leader’s former residence. The fire damaged the entrance to the house, where Starmer lived before moving to his official residence at 10 Downing Street and which was occupied at the time by his sister-in-law and her family. Another fire targeted a car that had previously belonged to Starmer. Ukrainian Roman Lavrinovici, 22, and Romanian-born Ukrainian Stanislav Carpiuc (27) acted on orders given on the Telegram network by a Russian-speaking contact, identified as “EL” during the trial and registered on their phones as “El Money”. According to a press investigation, “EL” is a young Russian diplomat, Yevgeny Lyukshin, close to the highest levels of power in Moscow and the son of a high-ranking official. He had posted messages on Telegram groups aimed at Russian and Ukrainian speakers looking for work in London. (LS)