What's really happening in Romania? I, along with others, have to answer this question because our institutions are severely deficient in communication, leaving Romania trapped between Elon Musk’s fake news and Russian active measures orchestrated by the FSB/SVR.
The beginning: In October 2024, during the candidate validation process for the Romanian presidential election, the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR—consider it similar to the U.S. Supreme Court for reference) invalidated the candidacy of Diana Ivanovici Șoșoacă.
Romania’s Constitutional Court has just confirmed the decision to definitively ban the extremist, antisemite, Russian-backed candidate from running in the upcoming presidential elections. This is legitimate, legal, and moral. Democracy first, Romania first 🇷🇴
The Constitutional Court of Romania has banned the pro-Russian far-right populist Călin Georgescu from running in the presidential elections.
And YES, IT IS DEMOCRATIC to ban a puppet of Moscow from running for President.
@juliaioffe The minerals agreement was a meaningless Trump smokescreen from the beginning. This is the exact same playbook he used in Afghanistan in 2017. Trump aggressively negotiated a minerals deal with the Afgani president, threatening to withdraw the American troops.
🇷🇴🔴 The secret services have declassified the information about Călin Georgescu
The declassified documents highlight a coordinated, externally influenced effort to boost Georgescu’s candidacy, mirroring Russian tactics used elsewhere
🗺️ State Actor Coordination:
The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) found that Georgescu’s TikTok promotion was not organic but coordinated by a state actor, possibly Russia, using alternative communication channels like Telegram and Discord to amplify messages discreetly
🇷🇺 Russian-Style Campaign:
The Ministry of Internal Affairs identified Georgescu’s “Balance and Integrity” campaign as identical to Russia’s “Brother by Brother” campaign in Ukraine before its 2022 aggression, suggesting a similar hybrid influence operation
🗳️ Vote Buying and Extremism:
An unnamed right-wing extremist (identified by G4Media as Eugen Sechila) who runs military camps was involved in promoting Georgescu and buying votes, per the Ministry of Internal Affairs
📱 TikTok Financing:
Bogdan Peșchir, via his “bogpr” TikTok account, donated over €1 million, including $381,000 between October 24 and November 24, 2024, to influencers promoting Georgescu, violating TikTok policies and Romanian electoral laws
🧾 Sophisticated Promotion:
The campaign used a network of 25,000 TikTok accounts, some dormant since 2016, activated two weeks before the election, showing advanced digital marketing expertise and swarming tactics to evade platform security
🎯 External Influence:
The Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) assessed Romania as a target for aggressive Russian hybrid actions—cyberattacks, disinformation, and support for Eurosceptic candidates like Georgescu to sway public sentiment and reduce Ukraine support
❗️Pro-Russian presidential candidate of 🇹🇩Romania Georgescu has been detained and sent for questioning to the Prosecutor General's Office.
▪️He is a suspect in the case of threatening the constitutional order, creating a fascist organization (!) and falsifying sources of election campaign financing, Romanian channels indicate. Today he was going to submit documents to participate in the re-election. Polls give him 38% in the first round (1st place).
▪️Georgescu himself said that "Ukraine is a fictional state. Its division is inevitable. Bukovina and Transcarpathia are Romanian interests."
Today I had a very good in-depth 📞 talk with President @ZelenskyyUa. We discussed the security situation, further multilevel support for UA & bilateral priorities for 2024, including our joint work to develop a solid 🇷🇴-🇺🇦 #StrategicPartnership & our continued pragmatic agenda.
As I depart Romania, I thank @KlausIohannis, the Romanian government, and society.
Our strategic relations create a new force for the entire Black Sea Region.
When we put all of our plans into reality, this part of Europe will gain a new source of economic and security power.
Durante la presente sesión del #CDH, #Bolivia junto a #Cuba, #Gambia, #Kirguistán, #Luxemburgo y #Sudáfrica, desarrolló consultas informales sobre su proyecto de resolución: “Grupo de trabajo sobre los Derechos de los Campesinos y otras Personas que Trabajan en Zonas Rurales” 1/2
I strongly condemn the recent Russian attacks against the Ukrainian🇺🇦 civilian infrastructure on #Danube, very close to Romania🇷🇴. This recent escalation pose serious risks to the security in the #BlackSea. It also affects further UA grain transit & thus the global food security.
IMHO, nothing is going to happen to the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power plant neither tonight nor tomorrow or in the nearest time.
Russians have 0 reasons to blow up the biggest European NPP and therefore lose such a precious economic facility and such a handy instrument of intimidation and blackmailing against Ukraine & the world.
And if so, absolutely no one is going to very seriously buy it that it was Ukraine that blew up a giant NPP in the middle of its own national territory (well, no one except for the most interesting personalities on this website, I agree).
But if/when Russians have to leave the plant as a result of a military defeat -- they will be more than interested in stripping Ukraine of such a priceless facility that is crucial for the country's post-war reconstruction and development.
So unless the world gives a very clear message (such as "Ukraine will get a stockpile of Tomahawk missiles if anything happens to the NPP", for instance), chances are high that Russians are going to do that.
But before they have to leave forever, this is unlikely.
However, given all the dumb shit they've done throughout this war & beyond, that's not the hill I'd die on.
"Romania supports Ukraine's membership in NATO," Dmytro Kuleba reported.
The Foreign Affairs Minister expressed his gratitude to the Romanian partners for their support following the first personal meeting with the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, Luminița Odobescu.
Everyone who chooses the path of evil destroys himself. Who sends columns of troops to destroy the lives of another country and cannot stop them from fleeing and betraying when life resists. Who terrorizes with missiles, and when they are shot down, humiliates himself to receive Shahed drones. Who despises people and throws hundreds of thousands into the war, in order to eventually barricade himself in the Moscow region from those whom he himself armed. For a long time, Russia used propaganda to mask its weakness and the stupidity of its government. And now there is so much chaos that no lie can hide it. And all this is one person, who again and again scares by the year 1917, although he is able to result in nothing else but this.
Russia's weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness. And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain, and problems it will have for itself later. It is also obvious. Ukraine is able to protect Europe from the spread of Russian evil and chaos.
We keep our resilience, unity and strength.
All our commanders, all our soldiers know what to do.
Glory to Ukraine!
Russia's strategic goal today is to freeze the conflict at any cost. The next steps are to ensure internal stabilization by cementing Putin's regime (elections-24), restoring military capabilities, destabilizing Europe, and preparing for the second round of war.
The tools are clear: daily statements about "readiness for negotiations"; " negotiation" (freezing) initiatives from third countries; media hysteria about the "failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive"; outright nuclear blackmail; massive resuscitation of the pro-Russian lobby in European countries with the theses that "we must somehow stop all this." Calls for a ceasefire are playing someone else's game with Russian cards.
We have just had a report from our intelligence and the Security Service of 🇺🇦.
Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering a scenario of a terrorist attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. A terrorist attack with radiation leakage. They have prepared everything for this.
Unfortunately, I have repeatedly had to remind that radiation has no state borders, and who it will hit is determined only by the wind direction.
We share all available information with our partners – everyone in the world. All the evidence. Europe, America, China, Brazil, India, the Arab world, Africa – all countries, absolutely everyone should know this. International organizations. Everyone.
There should never be any terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants anywhere. This time it should not be like with Kakhovka – the world has been warned, so the world can and must act.