Frontrunner Calin Georgescu vows to end Ukraine aid
Calin Georgescu, a fringe nationalist politician leading the race for Romania’s president, told the BBC he would end all support for Ukraine if elected.
He faces a runoff in Sunday’s election, running against former TV presenter Elena Lasconi, a staunch supporter of the European Union.
Georgescu, whose only campaign was on social media, said he would make “the Romanian people” his top priority.
But he denied that the unexpected successes so far were the result of Russian-backed influence operations and said he did not care about the “lies” told by his country’s intelligence agencies because he was working with God and the people.
In a highly unusual move, Romania’s outgoing president released declassified documents on Wednesday detailing an alleged massive, “highly organized” georges library on TikTok that was coordinated by a “state actor.” Activity.
The documents include an intelligence assessment that Russia is conducting a hybrid attack on Romania, which Russia considers an “enemy state.”
The Constitutional Court is now flooded with requests to investigate allegations of election interference with a view to potentially canceling the election.
Prosecutors announced today that they would launch a criminal investigation but gave no timetable for when it would end.
“They’re afraid,” Georgescu said, denying evidence that hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent promoting his campaign content, in violation of Romanian electoral law and TikTok’s own rules.
He denied being a “Muscovite” and derided Romania’s “non-intelligence agencies.”
“They cannot accept that the Romanian people are finally saying, ‘We want our lives, our country, our dignity back,'” he said, portraying himself as fighting against an unyielding system.
In a sometimes testy interview, Georgescu praised Donald Trump and Hungary’s populist leader Viktor Orban, and called Vladimir Putin a “patriot and leader.”
He then added: “But I’m not a fan.”
But when asked about Russia’s war in Ukraine, he first asked: “Are you sure?”, seemingly denying its existence.
He later said Romania was only interested in promoting peace on the border, but refused to suggest that this should be done on Kiev’s terms.
Asked whether he agreed to support Ukraine “for as long as needed” as the EU said, Georgescu said “no.” He said things will change.
“I agree, I have to take care of my people. I don’t want my people to get involved,” he replied. He clarified that Romania, a member of the European Union and NATO, would not provide any more military support to its neighbors. or political support.
“Zero. Everything stopped. I have to take care of my people. We have a lot of problems of our own.”
It would be a huge status change for Bucharest and a wonderful change for the Russians.
The Romanian president wields considerable power, including influence over areas such as foreign policy. He is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and appoints the Prime Minister.
Romania shares a long border with Ukraine and has been a staunch supporter of Kiev since its full-scale invasion in 2022.
It provides the Patriot missile defense system as well as financial support. It also became a major export route for Ukrainian grains as Russian bombing crippled port operations there.
Under Georgescu’s chairmanship, Romania would join Hungary and Slovakia as Russian sympathizers on NATO’s eastern flank.
It would also seriously weaken EU unity on Ukraine, as the EU is likely to take on more responsibility for aiding Kyiv with Donald Trump back in the White House.
Georgescu stressed that he would keep Romania within the EU and NATO, but that from now on everything would be “negotiated” and focused on Romania’s interests.
He refused to say that Vladimir Putin’s Russia posed a security threat to the West.
His endorsement of conspiracy theories has also raised concerns, including denial of the coronavirus pandemic and doubts about whether someone walked on the moon.
Romania has a large NATO military base near the Black Sea as well as U.S. missile defense facilities.
Georgescu now calls himself a university teacher, but has previously worked at the Foreign Ministry and the United Nations.
Clearly, he does have supporters – his clean-living, Romania-first philosophy is popular, especially outside Bucharest.
But in the capital, many are worried about the direction their country might take.
Tonight, protesters will gather in the center of Bucharest to call for Romania to maintain a close alliance with Europe.
Asked if he understood why they were afraid, Georgescu shook his head: “It’s just propaganda.”
