September 23, 2025 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 23.09.2025, 20:00

MOLDOVA –  A duel of statements is under way between Chişinău and Moscow on the week of the legislative elections, scheduled for Sunday, in the Republic of Moldova. The spokesman for the Government in Chişinău, Daniel Vodă, described the statements of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, according to which Europe is preparing to deploy troops in the Republic of Moldova, as a hysterical reaction to the message of President Maia Sandu, who warned that the country’s European future is subject to major threats from the Kremlin. “Russia has experience in occupying territories, and the expanding European Union is a space of peace and prosperity,” Vodă said. He said that Russia’s goal is to scare people and undermine confidence in the European path of the Moldovan state. We recall that the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has been spreading a series of false narratives, such as that the European Union and NATO want to occupy the Republic of Moldova and that they are preparing to send forces to Odessa to intimidate Transnistria. These theses of the Russian intelligence services come a day after President Maia Sandu addressed the citizens, warning them  that only through a committed vote will the Republic of Moldova be able to remain part of the civilized world and resist the malign interference of the Kremlin, which wants to use the country as a bridge in its war against the civilized world.

PROSECUTION – Romania’s Prosecutor General has requested the European Parliament to lift the parliamentary immunity of MEP Diana Ivanovici-Soşoacă, accused of assault, illegal deprivation of liberty, legionary propaganda, Holocaust denial, as well as promoting the cult of the communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu. The file brings together all the facts that Diana Iovanovici-Soşoacă has been accused of over the years, including the December 2021 incident with Italian journalists, when a Rai 1 TV crew, who went to interview the former senator, were allegedly kept in her office against their will. In the official statement, the prosecutor’s office only lists the crimes that Şoşoacă is accused of, without mentioning the facts themselves. The SOS Romania leader did not appear at the hearings and justified her absence by saying that she was not in the country. After the prosecutor’s office announced that it had requested the European Parliament to lift her parliamentary immunity, Iovanovici-Şoşoacă reacted harshly on Facebook in a broadcast lasting over an hour. She stated that she was not evading criminal prosecution, that she was not afraid of any preventive measure, that the prosecutor in her case had changed and that in recent years she had been accused in over 100 investigations and received over 30,000 euros in fines.

NATO – Russia’s recent actions, including the incursion with drones into Polish and Romanian airspace and the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian military aircraft, were either intentional or blatant evidence of incompetence, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Tuesday. The alliance is ready to intervene and eliminate any threat coming from Russia to the airspace of member states, Rutte assured after the meeting of the North Atlantic Council, convened after Estonia invoked Article 4 of the Alliance treaty, after 3 Russian military aircraft violated its airspace. In Bucharest, the President of Romania, Nicuşor Dan, convened a meeting of the country’s Supreme Defense Council for Thursday, focused on national airspace security. According to a press release from the presidential administration, the objectives that require protective measures against the threats posed by unmanned aircraft systems will be established, as well as the persons who have the right to order and approve the execution of measures against drones and other aerial vehicles that enter the country’s airspace without authorization.

AGREEMENT –  The leaders of the ruling coalition, formed by PSD, PNL, USR and UDMR, have reached an agreement to further cap markups on basic foods by 6 months, from October 1, the Social Democratic MP Marius Budăi announced. Coalition leaders convened  at the Government headquarters after a meeting, held earlier on Tuesday,  with the country’s President Nicuşor Dan. The Presidential Administration announced that the discussions were constructive, and that President Nicusor Dan stressed the importance of maintaining the unity of the coalition and continuing the promised reforms.

UN – The 80th UN General Assembly began its work on Tuesday in New York, amid multiple global crises, from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to climate change. About 140 heads of state and government are participating in the annual UN summit – an anniversary one, marking 80 years since the founding of the United Nations. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will launch the so-called UN Initiative 80, aimed at leading to a systemic reform of the world organization. A large number of world leaders attended a meeting on Monday, organized in New York by France and Saudi Arabia, which aimed to boost the solution based on the peaceful coexistence of two states, one Israeli and one Palestinian. During the conference, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco and Andorra announced that they would recognize the state of Palestine, thus trying to increase the pressure on Israel to end the war in the Gaza Strip. A day earlier, the decision to recognize Palestine as a state had also been formalized by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal. World leaders also have other major topics for discussion, such as Russia’s war against Ukraine. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky asked the leaders gathered at the UN to exert real and strong pressure on Russia, to end the war. The Romanian delegation is led by the Romanian Foreign Minister , Oana Ţoiu. (EE)