NATO<\/b> – Attending the extraordinary NATO
\nsummit on Thursday, in Brussels, the heads of state and government of the 30
\nmember states approved 4 new combat groups in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and
\nHungary. These will supplement the already existing 4 groups in the Baltic
\ncountries and Poland. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that
\ndefense at sea and in the air will be strengthened, cyber security will be
\nstrengthened, and the Ukrainian army will be equipped with anti-tank and
\nanti-missile systems, as well as with equipment for the detection and protection
\nagainst nuclear and chemical weapons. He said no troops would be sent to the
\nformer Soviet republic. The allies are doing what they can to support Ukraine
\nwith weapons so that the Ukrainians can defend themselves, but ‘we have a
\nresponsibility to prevent it from becoming a war in Europe’, Jens Stoltenberg
\nsaid. On the other hand, NATO has urged China not to support Moscow
\neconomically or militarily. At the same time, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was
\ncondemned in the strongest possible terms, the Alliance calling on the Russian
\nPresident Vladimir Putin to end the war immediately, and requesting Belarus to
\nend its complicity. Present in Brussels, together with Prime Minister Nicolae
\nCiuca, President Klaus Iohannis underlined that boosting NATO’s presence in Romania,
\nthe Black Sea and the entire Eastern Flank is a strategic objective of Romania,
\nin response to the implications of the Russian aggression on the European and
\nEuro-Atlantic security, and this consolidated presence must be unified,
\nbalanced and coherent, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. US President Joe
\nBiden was also present at the summit, the second extraordinary summit of the
\nNorth Atlantic Alliance this year, after the one on February 25.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
European Council<\/b> – Romania’s president
Ukraine<\/b> – The United States announced further
G 7<\/b>
Corruption<\/b> – The former Romanian
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Click here for a news update<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[31998,13794,28878,28884,29310,29398,28905],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-eu-council","tag-nato","tag-news","tag-rri","tag-russia","tag-summit","tag-ukraine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nKlaus Iohannis is attending, on Thursday and Friday, the European Council meeting
\nin Brussels. The US President Joe Biden has also been invited at the meeting as
\na confirmation of the tight Transatlantic coordination against the security
\nbackground created by the Russian aggression in Ukraine. High on the agenda are
\nthe latest security developments in Ukraine with emphasis on the EU political,
\nfinancial, material and humanitarian assistance to this country. Participants
\nwill also tackle ways of providing assistance to the Ukrainian refugees, as
\nwell as the Strategic Compass, an instrument aimed at providing a roadmap in
\nterms of security and defense at EU level. The European Council will also approach
\nthe energy prices situation and the measures to support the most vulnerable
\ncategories and the business environment, on short term.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nfinancial sanctions against Russia on Thursday, targeting the political world,
\nthe oligarchs and the defense industry in response to the invasion of Ukraine,
\nand is strengthening coordination with Western allies to prevent Moscow from
\nusing its gold reserves, AFP reports. These measures, which mainly involve a
\nfreeze of their assets in the United States, involve more than 300 members of
\nthe State Duma and the institution itself, as well as dozens of ‘large public
\ncompanies’ in the defense sector. Also on Thursday, the Russians and Ukrainians
\nexchanged prisoners, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vere\u015fciuk announced
\non Facebook. On the ground, almost a month after the start of the Russian
\ninvasion of Ukraine, fighting continues, and the damage is growing, as are the
\ncasualties. Kharkov (northeast), the country’s second most important city, was
\nbombarded again. In Kherson (south), Makariv and Irpin (near Kyiv), the
\nUkrainians regained key positions. Russian bombs continue to fall on Kyiv,
\nNikolaev (south) and Chernihiv (center). In Odessa (Black Sea port) barricades
\nare being erected and aid is being distributed. However, the most dramatic
\nsituation remains in Mariupol (port at the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov), a city bombed
\nincessantly for days on end and 90% destroyed. On the other hand, Ukraine
\nallegedly managed to hit with a ballistic missile a large landing ship of
\nRussian forces in the coastal city of Berdyansk (Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov). Near the
\nlanding ship, two other large Russian ships were allegedly hit and left the
\nport immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n– The leaders of the world’s most industrialized countries (G7) – US, UK,
\nGermany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada – meeting in Brussels on Thursday, warned
\nRussia not to use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons in its war against
\nUkraine, according to a statement released at the end of the meeting. All
\ncountries are ready to receive refugees from Ukraine, the statement read. As
\nregards energy, leaders are urging oil and gas-producing countries to act
\nresponsibly and increase deliveries to international markets, adding that the
\nOrganization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should get involved.
\nThey also promised that G7 member countries would avoid bans on food exports.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nFinance Minister Sebastian Vladescu was sentenced, on Thursday, by the High
\nCourt of Cassation and Justice to 8 years and 6 months in prison for bribe
\ntaking and influence peddling, in a case related to the assignment of a
\ncontract for the rehabilitation of some railway sections. In the same case, the
\nformer MP Cristian Boureanu received a sentence of 4 years and 3 months (previously
\nhe had been given a suspended sentence). The decision of the magistrates is not
\nfinal. According to anti-corruption prosecutors, in the period 2005-2017, a
\nforeign company paid approximately 20 million Euros, as commissions, to
\nRomanian officials or persons with influence over them, in connection with the
\nconclusion and execution of contracts for railway rehabilitation. According to the
\nNational Anti-Corruption Directorate, Sebastian Vladescu received the amount of
\n2.2 million Euros, and Cristian Boureanu obtained 2.1 million Euros. (LS)<\/span><\/p>\n