November 27, 2015 UPDATE

President of Romania receives the US National Guard Chief, Gen. Frank Grass, Russia suspends visa-free travel with Turkey

Newsroom, 27.11.2015, 12:07

The President of Romania Klaus Iohannis Friday received the Chief of the US National Guard Bureau, General Frank Grass. According to the Presidency, the two discussed means to carry on bilateral security and defence cooperation by promoting and broadening the current projects. The agenda of talks also included recent developments in Afghanistan and the Western Balkans, as well as the strategic importance of good relations between Romania and the USA in the current security context in south-eastern Europe.

Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of Russias Parliament, said in Bucharest on Friday that the choice of hosting elements of the missile shield in Deveselu belongs to Romania and Russia respects this decision. Naryshkin travelled to Bucharest for the handover of the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. Representatives of Ukraine at the meeting protested in the hall of the Senate of Romania, as Naryshkin was giving his address. The Romanian foreign ministry said the Senate in Bucharest was able to invite Naryshkin, who is on a EU travel ban list, because Romania is obliged under international law to respect a multilateral agreement allowing entry to persons who enjoy certain privileges and immunities. The Romanian ministry also said it notified its European Union partners about this case.

France paid tribute on Friday to the 130 victims of the November 13 attacks, in a ceremony presided over by the head of state, François Hollande. In an address given on this occasion, the French President promised to crush the “army of fanatics behind the attacks. François Hollande ended his diplomatic tour aimed at establishing a broad coalition against the IS group, which claimed the attacks. After talks with the British PM, David Cameron, the US President Barack Obama, and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Hollande travelled to Moscow to meet with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin. Russia joining the anti-terror organisation is a difficult issue, given the different approaches to the topic. Moscow wants an international coalition under the UN aegis, whereas the US claims a coalition already exists, which Russia is free to join. Putin and Hollande have agreed that the two countries may nonetheless exchange intelligence and coordinate actions so as to increase the efficiency of the anti-terror operations.

Russia has decided to suspend the visa-free arrangement with Turkey as of 2016, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced. He added that Moscow was concerned with the rise of terrorist threats in Turkey. Turkeys Foreign Ministry has called the Russian Ambassador to Ankara, for talks over a number of incidents involving Turkish companies in Russia, which were subject to “attacks disguised as protests, AFP reports. Tensions deepened between Moscow and Ankara after on Tuesday the Turkish Air Forces downed a Russian warplane. Ankara says the aircraft violated its air space, whereas Moscow says the plane was hit in Syrian air space.

The President of the Republic of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, Friday had meetings with three of the five parties in the Moldovan Parliament, with a view to reaching an agreement on the nomination of a new prime minister. Timofti talked to the leaders of the pro-European parties, the Liberal Democrats, the Democrats and the Liberals. The Cabinet headed by the Liberal Democrat Valeriu Strelet was dismissed a month ago under a no-confidence motion tabled by the Socialists and Communists in opposition and backed by the Democrats, which led to the dismantling of the pro-European alliance. On Wednesday the head of the Foreign Policy Committee in the European Parliament, Elmar Brok, called for the re-creation of the three-party alliance and a new government focusing on in-depth reform. The Constitutional Court announced that unless a new government is validated by the end of January 2016, Moldovas Parliament may be dissolved.

(translation by: Ana-Maria Popescu)