The Romanian community in Ukraine, numbering around half a million people, is mostly concentrated in the west of the country, on the Romanian territories seized by the Soviet Union in 1940 and inherited by Ukraine, as successor country, in 1991. It is for this community, the second largest minority in Ukraine after the Russian one, that the Romanian checkpoint in Vicov, shut down in 2010, will be reopened. This will shorten the route between the Ukrainian town of Cernauti and the Romanian village of Putna by 100 kilometers.<\/p>\n
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On Monday, Prime Minister Victor Ponta reiterated Romania\u2019s total and unconditional support for Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity and pointed out also that Bucharest backed all the decisions regarding the economic sanctions imposed on Russia. <\/p>\n
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Victor Ponta: \u201cWhat matters the most is that Romania\u2019s stance, similar to that of the European Union and of the United States, is very firm and clear as far as Ukraine\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity are concerned. It\u2019s important that Russia should withdraw any support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine. This is, in our opinion, the most important goal in the short-term.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Launched in Moscow, the hypothesis of a possible federalization of Ukraine is not accepted by Bucharest. Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean:<\/p>\n
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Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean: \u201cA more extensive form of decentralization might be worth considering, or increased powers granted to regional authorities. But this is the decision of the Ukrainian political forces. We by no means believe that any suggestions and requests from the outside are likely to ease this political process. The political process depends exclusively on Ukraine\u2019s internal sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Any re-launch of Ukraine\u2019s internal political process is conditioned, in the Romanian authorities\u2019 opinion, on Russia\u2019s withdrawing its political and military support for the pro-Russian separatists. In the meantime, in eastern Ukraine the national army has made significant progress against the rebels in the past few weeks. In their turn, the rebels have announced a counteroffensive. The US has denounced Russia\u2019s increased involvement in the conflict.<\/p>\n
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Against this background, Ukrainian president Petro Porosenko dissolved the Parliament in Kiev and called for early elections on October 26. Porosenko hopes that by that time the situation in eastern Ukraine will be stable enough so that pro-European policies and the campaign against the pro-Russians can be legitimized. In four months of conflict, over 2,200 people have died, thousands have been wounded and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania has reiterated its total and unconditional support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-56165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-today-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n