April 11, 2014 UPDATE

For a roundup of domestic and international news, click here.

Mihai Pelin, 11.04.2014, 12:05

NATO – US charge d’affaires to Bucharest Duane Butcher reaffirmed his country’s and NATO’s commitment to defending Romania against the background of events in Crimea and Russia’s aggression and violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. He said that the US was acting under NATO statute article 5, guaranteeing common defense in the face of attack against any given member. These statements come after Romania called for increased NATO presence in the region.

ROMANIA AND NATO – Romania’s status within NATO ensures increased protection for our country against an escalation of the situation in Ukraine. This is what over half of the respondents to a recent survey believe. With respect to the impact of the developments in Ukraine on Romania’s relations with Russia, 36% of respondents, people aged over 65 in particular, said relations are bound to get worse, while 46% believe they will remain the same. As regards relations with the Republic of Moldova, 11% believe relations will get worse while 57% responded there would be no change in our country’s relations with Moldova.

THE EU AND RUSSIA – The EU argues against politicising energy issues and expects Russia to observe its contracts for the delivery of natural gas to Member States, reads the European Commission letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader threatens to cease all gas exports to Ukraine unless this country covers its outstanding debts, thus putting Europe’s natural gas supplies at risk. The Russian giant Gazprom currently owned by the state claims Ukraine’s debt stands at 2.2 million dollars. In turn, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta gave assurances that there would be no short-term effects in the event of a natural gas crisis.

UKRAINE – Ukrainian PM Arsenyi Yatseniuk met on Friday with local leaders in Donetsk, Ukraine, where pro-Russian activists occupied a government building, declaring independence, according to the BBC. Interim Ukrainian president Oleksandr Turchinov promised separatists amnesty on Thursday if they handed in their weapons and evacuated the buildings they occupied. The parliament of Crimea, annexed by Russia last month, passed a law for creating a new constitution for that region, which declared its independence on 18 March.

MOLDOVA – The parliament in Chisinau passed a law by which Soviet era passports are no longer considered valid identification when voting. The law comes into effect on 1 September, on the 22nd anniversary of Moldova’s independence from the USSR. Moldova is the only ex-Soviet state recognizing as valid around one hundred thousand Soviet era passports.

TALKS – Romanian Undersecretary for Strategic Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, met on Friday in Washington the US president’s special adviser for Russia and Central Asia, Celeste Wallander, and Derek Chollet, international security adviser to the US Secretary of Defense. On Thursday, during talks with the US Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Aurescu said that the US and NATO needed to bolster their presence on the eastern border of the North Atlantic Alliance, including in Romania, and saluted the commitment displayed by the US in supporting the Republic of Moldova’s bid to join the European Union, one of Romania’s main international commitments.

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM – The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest on Friday hosted the annual meeting of Eugen Ionescu scholars for the 2013-2014 school year, with 60 scholarship winners from 14 French-speaking countries. This doctoral and post-doctoral studies scholarship named after writer Eugen Ionescu started in Romania in 2007, aiming to support long-term development in Francophone areas, especially Central and Eastern Europe. So far, the program has provided funding for 470 doctoral candidates and researchers.

TENNIS – The first-seed pair made up of Romanian Monica Niculescu and Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic on Friday qualified to the doubles finals of the WTA tournament in Katowice, Poland, totaling 250,000 dollars in prize money. The two outperformed Paula Kania of Poland and Valeria Solovieva of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals. In the finals, Niculescu and Zakopalova will play either pair from Raluca Olaru from Romania and Klaudia Jans-Iganick of Poland or Yulia Beiglezimer and Olga Savciuk of Ukraine.