August 30. 2022

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 30.08.2022, 13:55

EU-Russia. In a joint position
paper, Germany and France have rejected a blanket ban on Russian citizens
entering the European Union, as proposed by several member states, notes the
dpa news agency. While accepting that visa applications from Russian citizens
should be carefully examined for potential security risks, the paper warns
against underestimating the transformative power of experiencing life in
democratic systems at first-hand. The French-German paper added that a blanket
ban could lead to a rise in nationalist and anti-European sentiments in Russia.
Romania said it will back the suspension of EU’s visa facilitation agreement
with Russia, which will be discussed by EU foreign ministers meeting in Prague
from today. The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu backs the restriction
of the movement of Russian citizens within the bloc, including for tourism. The
Czech Republic, which is holding the Union’s rotating presidency, hopes the 27
EU member states will reach a consensus to implement this measure by October.

Schengen. The Romanian authorities have welcomed
Germany’s support for Romania’s accession to the EU’s passport-free Schengen
area and thanked chancellor Olaf Scholz for his support. In his address at the
EU summit in Prague, Scholz said Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria meet all
technical criteria for full membership and that the Schengen area must be
protected and developed, which means closing the remaining gaps. During a visit
to Romania in June, the French president Emmanuel Macron also stated his
support for this idea.

Moldova. Moldova’s former
pro-Russian president Igor Dodon is to remain under house arrest after his
appeal against this measure was rejected by the Court of Appeal. Dodon, who is
now the honorary president of the Socialists’ Party he founded, was detained on
24th May and placed under house arrest two days later. He is
suspected of acquiring illicit wealth, passive corruption, illegal party
funding and treason. Dodon’s wife and mother are also under investigation, as
well as his brother-in-law, who is in temporary custody.

Ukraine. The Ukrainian army has
launched a strong counteroffensive against the invading Russian troops in the
occupied south, seeking to retake Kherson, a city of 280,000 inhabitants
occupied by the Russian troops in the early days of the invasion. The Ukrainian
military are already speaking about the withdrawal of a unit of pro-Russian
separatist fighters from the region. Russia says, however, that it rejected the
Ukrainian attempts to advance into Kherson and Mykolaiv, with a Russian defence
ministry statement saying the counteroffensive failed and the Ukrainians
suffered heavy losses.

Tennis. 24-year-old Elena-Gabriela
Ruse of Romania, ranked 101 in the world, reached the second round at the US
Open as she defeated world no. 58 Daria Saville of Australia 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. In
the next round, Ruse will face world no. 12 Coco Gauff of the US. In one of the
biggest upsets of the tournament so far, the former world no. one and current
world no. 7 Simona Halep lost to Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.
Jaqueline Cristian also lost her first-round match against world no. 2 Anett
Kontaveit of Estonia in a match that lasted 66 minutes and ended 6-3, 6-0. Two
other Romanian players are in action at the US Open on Tuesday, in the first
round: Sorana Cîrstea, who plays Germany’s Laura Siegemund, and Irina Begu, who
plays Belgium’s Elise Mertens. (CM)