Morning headlines – January 21st 2022

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 15.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 8,04 million people got the vaccine, with more than 7,93 getting both doses and 2,26 of them getting the third dose. (Press release)
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 19.105 SARS CoV-2 cases, 39 deaths, and in ICU there are now 547 people hospitalized. (Press release)

Global political and military events

• The US is accusing Russia of trying to take over the Ukrainian governmental institutions. `Russia asked the Secrete Services to recruit current and former Ukranian governmental officials to get ready to take over Ukraine’s Government and the key infrastructure with a Russian occupation force`, said the US Treasury Department on Thursday, after sanctioning the people involved in such activities. (Mediafax)
• Blinken is meeting Lavrov, on Friday, in Geneve. The US State Secretary Antony Blinken will meet on Friday, in Geneve, with the Russian foreign affairs minister, Sergey Lavrov, to seek a `diplomatic solution` to the Russia-Ukraine crisis. 130.000 Russian military are ready to invade Ukraine. (AFP)
• Spain wants to send military ships in the Black Sea Region. Spain decided to send two warships to join the NATO naval forces in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as the tension in the region increases due to the Russian armed forces position at the border with Ukraine, said the defence minister, on Thursday, Margarita Robles. (Aleph News)
• France is dislocating a naval group led by an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea. Within the Clemenceau 22 operation, which starts in February, the French naval forces will dislocate the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier together with other ships, in the Mediterranean Sea. (AFP)
• The UN rejects Holocaust’s negation through a new resolution. The nations are encouraged to preserve the places which were long ago death camps to keep the memory of those horrific acts alive. The UN, through its new resolution, is asking the member states to offer educational programs about the Holocaust. Six million Jewish people died during the Holocaust, the campaign of the Nazi Germany to eradicate the Jewish population in Europe. (Mediafax)
• Israel is buying three submarines from Germany with 3 billion euro. The Israeli minister of defence, Benny  Gantz, has announced, on Thursday, the intention to buy three Dakar submarines made by the Thyssenkrupp company for 3 billion euro, with 850 million being invested in companies from Israel. The first submarine will be delivered in 9 years. (DefencePost)

Romania’s defence and security

• The minister of defence says Romania will not be involved in the possible Ukraine-Russia war. `For those who are worried – firstly, NATO, as the Secretary General said, will not react, regardless of what is happening at Ukraine’s border. It will not react militarily, because it is obvious that Ukraine is not a NATO member, and the North-Atlantic treaty says the alliance is reacting militarily only if NATO members are being threatened`, said Vasile Dincu, at TVR. (Mediafax)
• Aurescu demands that Allied soldiers come to Romania as soon as possible. Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Thursday that NATO's consolidated presence on the Eastern Flank should take place as soon as possible, adding that announcements by US and French presidents also play an important deterrent role in the current security context. (Agerpres)
• Government meeting of representatives of the aluminum industry. The unions in the aluminum industry are organizing a protest rally in front of the Government on Friday, between 11:00 and 13:00, the main reason being the "serious situation" that the sector is facing as a result of the purchase of electricity and gas at exorbitant prices, which leads to the closure of production capacity. (Agerpres)
• The strike by STB continues on Friday. The strike launched by the Bucharest Transport Company (STB) trade unionists continues on Friday, with drivers refusing to take buses, trolleybuses and trams on the route, although the Bucharest court suspended the strike on Thursday and decided to immediately resume public transport activity in the capital. (Agerpres)