UKRAINE: Balkan area and USA

- SEENEWS

* Delays possible in construction of Serbia-Bulgaria gas link over steel shortages - energy ministry

BELGRADE (Serbia), March 25 (SeeNews) - A consortium of companies building in Serbia a gas link with Bulgaria has warned about possible delays in the construction due to steel shortages caused by the war in Ukraine, the Serbian energy ministry said.

* Romania’s tax authority blocks accounts of three cos controlled by Russian oligarch

BUCHAREST (Romania), March 25 (SeeNews) - Romania’s tax authority, ANAF, said it has blocked the accounts and frozen assets of three companies indirectly controlled by an unnamed natural person who is on the EU list of sanctioned Russian nationals over the invasion of Ukraine.

* Bulgaria to redirect 30.7 mln euro in EU funds to refugee crisis management

SOFIA (Bulgaria), March 24 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria will redirect over 60 million levs ($33.7 million/30.7 million euro) of EU funding to support the local authorities in handling Ukrainian refugees entering the country, the regional development ministry said.

* Kosovo allocates 100,000 euro in humanitarian aid for Ukraine

PRISTINA (Kosovo), March 24 (SeeNews) - Kosovo’s government decided to allocate 100,000 euro ($109,800) in humanitarian aid to citizens of Ukraine, the prime minister’s office said.

* NATO to send troops to Bulgaria, Romania - Stoltenberg

SOFIA (Bulgaria), March 24 (SeeNews) - NATO will deploy four new battlegroups to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said on the eve of an extraordinary summit of the Alliance as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its second month.

- U.S. DEPARTEMENT OF STATE

03/25/2022

Office of the Spokesperson

Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Dr. Karen Donfried will travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, on March 28, where she will meet with Danish, Faroese, and Greenlandic government officials and parliamentary leaders. The Assistant Secretary will underscore the longstanding and close U.S.-Kingdom of Denmark bilateral relationship, which is based on a range of shared values including our security cooperation and our mutual support for the people of Ukraine against Putin’s unjustified and unprovoked war. Dr. Donfried will also meet with members of the Danish think tank and business communities to share perspectives on the impacts of Putin’s war of choice.

Assistant Secretary Donfried will then travel on March 29 to Prague, the Czech Republic, where she will meet with Czech government officials and civil society and industry leaders. The Assistant Secretary will lead the U.S. delegation’s participation in the U.S.-Czech Strategic Dialogue, reaffirming our deep and longstanding partnership. She will also thank the Czech government and people for their generosity and unwavering support for the people of Ukraine.

On March 30, Dr. Donfried will travel to Bratislava, Slovakia, to attend the Bucharest Nine Ministerial on March 31, and to discuss transatlantic relations with representatives from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. She will also meet with senior Slovak government officials to discuss our ongoing strong support for Ukraine.

* Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin’s Meeting with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba and Defense Minister Reznikov

03/26/2022

Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Ned Price:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov in Warsaw, Poland, on the margins of President Biden’s trip to Europe. The Secretaries and Ministers discussed outcomes of the March 24 extraordinary NATO Summit in Brussels, and the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of the Russian Federation’s increasingly brutal assault on Ukrainian cities and civilian population. Both Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin pledged continued support to meet Ukraine’s humanitarian, security, and economic needs as President Putin’s full-scale invasion enters its second month.