August 27, 2026
A roundup of local and world news
Newsroom, 27.08.2026, 13:55
MOLDOVA The president of Romania Nicuşor Dan is on a visit to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova today, where he takes part in events occasioned by that country’s Independence Day. Nicuşor Dan will be received by the president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu at the Presidential Palace in Chisinau, and the two heads of state will then attend a military parade. In the evening, a trilateral meeting with the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will take place. Present-day Republic of Moldova was created on part of the eastern Romanian territories annexed in 1940 by Stalin’s Soviet Union following an ultimatum. Moldova declared its independence from Moscow on August 27, 1991, after a failed neo-Bolshevik coup against the last Soviet leader, the reformist Mikhail Gorbachev. On the same day, Romania became the first country in the world to recognise the statehood of its new neighbour.
SAFE The government intends to pass in today’s meeting a bill regulating the amounts of money to be disbursed to public institutions under the Security Action for Europe programme (SAFE). Bucharest received on Wednesday a first EUR 2.5 billion payment, which accounts for 15% of the total EUR 16.7 billion that the European Commission has earmarked for Romania. The defence ministry is to receive the bulk of the money, over EUR 9 billion, followed by the transportation ministry (EUR 4.2 billion). The interior ministry, the Romanian Intelligence Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Protection and Guard Service and the Special Telecommunications Service will also receive money under this European facility. These institutions will implement 35 projects, 75% of which involving procurement of military equipment, with the balance concerning road transport infrastructure of national, military and civilian interest.
DRONES The Romanian defence ministry’s radar surveillance system Thursday detected a group of air targets in Ukraine’s airspace, near the border with Romania. According to a news release quoted by AGERPRES, the National Military Command Centre instructed the General Inspectorate for Emergencies to alert the public in northern Tulcea County via a RO-Alert message. Two F-18 aircraft of the Spanish Air and Space Forces, currently serving in the Reinforced Air Police service at the 57th Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, were deployed to monitor the situation. Also, a Romanian Air Force IAR-330 PUMA SOCAT helicopter was taken off the ground, the news release reads.
DIPLOMACY Romania’s foreign ministry confirms receiving on Thursday from its Russian a decision to declare a Romanian Embassy staff member in Moscow a persona non grata. “This measure of the Russian side is of a reciprocal nature, and comes in response to the decision made by the Romanian authorities on July 27, regarding a member of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bucharest,” the Romanian ministry says. The institution mentions that the respective decision of the Romanian authorities was a response to the repeated violations of Romania’s airspace in July 24-26, during which, amid the war in neighbouring Ukraine, the Romanian Army shot down 3 Russian drones that had entered the national territory without authorisation.
FILM “Fjord”, directed by Romanian Cristian Mungiu, will be screened at the Oslo/PIX Film Festival, which runs until August 30, in the capital of Norway. The winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the film will close the festival with 3 screenings in the presence of the director and team members, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Romanian Embassy in Norway. “Fjord” tells the story of a Romanian-Norwegian family that moves from Romania to a small town in Norway. When the school suspects that the parents use physical punishment on their children, the intervention of the institutions triggers a conflict between the different values and outlooks on family, education, individual freedom and government responsibility. Starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, alongside Ellen Dorrit Petersen and Lisa Loven Kongsli, the film was described by the French daily Le Monde as “a clash of opposing worlds”.
FOOTBALL Romania’s football champions, Universitatea Craiova play away from home tonight against Ararat-Armenia Yerevan in the decisive leg of the Europa League play-offs. In the first leg, in Craiova, the score was tied, 1-1. Universitatea is the last Romanian team in the current edition of the European football cups. The other three, Universitatea and CFR from Cluj and FCSB (Bucharest) lost the qualifying rounds. (AMP)
