Morning headlines – February 7th 2022

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 7.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 8,08 million people got the vaccine, with more than 8 getting both doses and 2,44 of them getting the third dose. (Press release)
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 16.108 SARS CoV-2 cases, 75 deaths, and in ICU there are now 1.065 people hospitalized. (Press release)
• MIA gave fines worth of half a million RON. Policemen and gendarmes gave in the last 24 hours 1.773 fines worth of 474.200 RON for the violation of sanitary protection, informed, on Sunday, the Strategic Communication Group. (Agerpres)

Global political and military events

• Germany’s chancellor meets Biden. The German chancellor Olaf Scholz has left the country on Sunday for Washington, trying to ensure the Americans that his country is supporting the US and the other NATO partners in opposing any Russian aggression against Ukraine. Scholz stated that Moscow will pay a big price if it invades, but his government’s refusal to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, to consolidate the German troops’ presence in Eastern Europe or to specify what kind of sanctions would apply to Russia have been widely criticized both abroad and in the country. (Mediafax)
• Macron goes to Moscow to discuss with Putin. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has discussed again on Sunday the Ukrainian problem with the US president Joe Biden for a logical coordination before he leaves on Monday to Moscow, where he will meet Vladimir Putin, said the French Presidency and the White House. (Mediafax)
• The US warns China, due to the support given to Russia in the NATO crisis. "We believe that Beijing will end up owning some of the costs of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and that they should calculate that as they consider their engagements with the Russian government over the next couple of weeks," Sullivan said on NBC's "Meet the Press." (Mediafax)
• The biggest military drill since the end of the Cold War is starting in Belarus. A few days ago, Moscow and Minsk have announced common military drills defined by NATO as the biggest military dislocation in Belarus since the end of the Cold War. According to press releases published by the Russian media, the drill – called Union Resolve 2022 – will take place between 10 and 20 of February, and will involve all operational forces in Belarus and 30.000 Russian military, and its purpose it to see if the Russian and Belorussian forces can fight a possible attack along the southern borders of the alliance. Satellite images published by the Maxar Technologies company show military units armed with missiles, missiles launchers, and fight aircrafts dislcoated in Belarus, close to the border with Ukraine. (Mediafax)
• Ukraine does not believe in war. Mykhailo Podolyak, counselor of the Ukrainian presidential administration, and the foreign affairs minister, Dmytro Kuleba, have criticized on Sunday the Western `apocalyptic forecasts` on the imminence of war with Russia. (AFP)
• UN report: North Korea is stealing crypto currency to finance its military programs. According to a UN report for the Security Council, in 2020 and 2021, institutions from North Korea have stolen 316.4  million dollars from exchange institutions in the US, Europe and Asia. (GB News)
• The Ottawa mayor declared state of emergency due to protests. The protests have started as truck drivers protests angry because of the vaccination demands when crossing the US-Canadian borders, but it turned into huge protests against the COVID-19 sanitary restrictions and the Justin Trudeau government. (Mediafax)

Romania’s defence and security

• The Parliament debates simple motion against Energy Minister. The simple motion submitted by USR against the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, will be debated in a plenary session on Monday, and will be subjected to vote on Wednesday. Last Tuesday, USR submitted the simple motion entitled “Incompetence and lying shut the light in Romania. Minister 'next week' Virgil Popescu, a danger for Romania's energy security ". (Agerpres)