Euroskeptic leads Romania polls after previous vote annulled
A Euroskeptic nationalist who opposes military aid to Ukraine is the favorite to win the first round of Romania's weekend election.
Though the country is small, its presidential poll has garnered global attention: The results of a prior vote were annulled after a relative unknown, Călin Georgescu, won following what officials said was Russian interference.
Georgescu is barred from running this time, but frontrunner George Simion has promised to appoint him to a top position. The stakes extend beyond Bucharest's borders: Romania is set to host NATO's biggest military base in Europe by 2030 on the Black Sea coast, but analysts say a Simion win could put the country's commitment to the military alliance in doubt.
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Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Putin raises the stakes on ‘ghost fleet' security, as NATO launches war games in the Baltic Sea
NATO navies are putting on a display of maritime might in the Baltic Sea this month, as thousands of personnel from 17 countries aboard 50 vessels take part in war games led by the U.S.' 6th Fleet. Of the nine countries that share a Baltic Sea coastline, only Russia is not a NATO member, and June's BALTOPS exercise aims to ensure those other countries can work together to defend the area, at a time when Moscow is turning up the heat. "This year's BALTOPS is more than just an exercise," said U.S. Vice Admiral J.T. Anderson in a press release this week. "It's a visible demonstration of our Alliance's resolve, adaptability and maritime strength." Over the last year there's been growing disquiet about Russia's malign influence in the Baltic Sea region, with several incidents of severed undersea cables. Suspicion has fallen on Russia's fleet of so-called "ghost" or "shadow" ships: hundreds of aging vessels, mostly oil tankers flying under foreign flags that are used to circumvent Western sanctions or trade in military hardware. There are also well-founded concerns that some of these ships are used for covert intelligence gathering, communication intercepts or to sabotage undersea infrastructure like internet cables or gas and electricity pipelines. Three crew members from a Cook Islands-registered vessel, believed to be part of Russia's ghost fleet, are currently facing charges in Finland over damage to an undersea cable that prosecutors say happened when the ship dragged its anchor for 60 miles along the floor of the Baltic Sea. "There's a growing importance of the shadow fleet to Russia's wartime economy, and a growing awareness that NATO needs to stop it," Tony Lawrence, a naval expert and researcher at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Estonia, told Fox News Digital. But after a number of NATO navies adopted a tougher stance against the ghost ships through stop-and-search tactics, the Russians announced they would use their own navy to escort the fleet through the Baltic Sea. "The Russian military presence in the region has always been visible, this is not a new feature. However, what is new is that Russia is protecting its shadow fleet tankers in the narrow pass of the Gulf of Finland," Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said in a recent television interview with Finland's YLE TV. NATO governments are keeping a close eye on the latest Baltic Sea developments and preparing for any possible increase in tensions. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen spoke at a meeting of NATO's Nordic and Baltic members this week, and described the Russian threat as real and serious. "We see a more aggressive Russian approach in the Baltic Sea region," she told reporters. The Baltic Sea has relatively narrow waterways, where international maritime boundaries extend 12 miles from the coast, and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) incorporate valuable fishing grounds or offshore wind farms. Add to this some of the busiest ferry routes in the world, commercial shipping traffic, military warships and civilian craft, and it raises the possibility that a more robust Russian naval posture in the area could increase the possibility of conflict. "This is the risk of having more warships floating around the Baltic Sea, there is a potential for miscalculations that could escalate, and risk-reduction mechanisms that used to exist don't work any more because the [NATO and Russian] navies aren't talking to each other anymore," Lawrence told Fox News Digital. Does the Russian navy even have the capacity to escort every single ghost fleet ship in the Baltic? That seems unlikely, according to some. "It's an escalation, of course, of Russian misbehavior in the Baltic Sea. But in practical terms I'm not sure it's going to make that much difference," Lawrence said. "Russia's Baltic Sea fleet has always been the junior cousin of the Russian navy, and it's never been particularly well-equipped or enlarged, but it's still the biggest national navy operating in the Baltic, and they have ships that are attuned to the Baltic Sea, which is shallow, and its salinity is such that you need special kinds of sensors. And they know how to hide ships in the archipelagos of Sweden or Finland, so in that regard, they have a certain amount of specialist capability," Lawrence explained. The Baltic Sea war games this month – with the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius and the Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney taking part – serve to remind the Russians of the power of NATO's combined naval assets in the region. And some of the smaller navies will be reassured by the presence of the American warships. A few weeks ago, Estonia's navy brought one suspected shadow fleet ship into its territorial waters for an inspection, and it complied. But when the Estonians tried the same tactic for a second time, the ship refused to stop and wouldn't come into port. "That makes things more difficult for other nations because the shadow fleet is learning that it can just ignore what NATO navies do and there's little that NATO can do in that situation, especially if there are Russian ships escorting the shadow fleet," said Lawrence. "But I don't think NATO nations are going to back down. They will still follow and challenge these shadow fleet ships, or even look at other legislation, like requiring proof of insurance, to stop them from transiting the Baltic Sea."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Tuberville accuses Zelensky of attempting to ‘lure NATO' into Russian conflict
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was undoubtedly trying to 'lure NATO' into their war with Russia. 'There is no doubt, because he cannot win this war on his own. He knows he's losing,' Tuberville said during a Sunday appearance on John Catsimatidis's radio show 'Cats Roundtable' on WABC 770 AM. However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously mentioned that the country would never join NATO, although he later walked back the comments. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and has continued to launch deadly drone strikes on the country in an effort to gain more land. The Kremlin attacked the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday, wounding 80 and killing at least six. Russia ramped up its strikes after Ukraine successfully completed a series of drone attacks to defend its sovereign borders. 'They drove trucks 2,000 miles into Russia. They had drones that were covered up in the backs of these trucks. They got close to the targets, opened up these trucks, the drones flew out and destroyed somewhere around 40 major airplanes that Russia uses in their nuclear arsenal,' Tuberville said. 'It was devastating. Then again, both sides are at fault. Let's get this thing over with. And President Trump is the one who can get this done,' he continued. His rhetoric aligns with President Trump's past statements alleging Ukraine caused the war and shouldn't seek to recover the Crimea region. Trump publicly chastised his counterpart Zelensky in the Oval Office in February, warranting a chorus of responses from national lawmakers and international leaders. During Sunday's interview, Tuberville also slammed Zelensky's presidency, describing him as a 'dictator.' 'Zelensky is a dictator, and he has created all sorts of problems. We've got a lot of money that's been missing. No telling where it's gone…,' Tuberville said. 'I think both of these [nations] have lost close to 500,000 to 700,000 people. It's devastating to the world,' he added. Senators have considered sanctions on Russia for refusing to agree to a ceasefire amidst angst. However, they ultimately held off deciding to follow the president's lead. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Zelensky looking to meet with Trump at G7
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is looking to meet with President Trump at an upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit, according to his office. Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that Trump and Zelensky will have a meeting amid the summit in Canada, according to a Friday article on Zelensky's official website. The article stated that the comments came amid the United News telethon, which the Kyiv Independent has described as the largest television channel in the country's merger of coverage. In the first few months of his second term, Trump and his administration have pushed for an end to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Last weekend, Ukraine struck one of its most harmful blows in its war against Russia, using smuggled drones to target bombers far into Russian territory. In a thread on the social media platform X last Sunday, Zelensky said, 'a brilliant operation was carried out — on enemy territory' that day. 'The preparation took over a year and a half. Planning, organi[z]ation, every detail was perfectly executed. It can be said with confidence that this was an absolutely unique operation,' Zelensky wrote about the attack. Back in February, Zelensky, Trump and Vice President Vance all had a rocky meeting in the Oval Office that devolved into shouting and finger-pointing. The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
