Ukraine strongly condemns Russia's interference in Romanian elections

“Russia's blatant interference in Romania's internal affairs is an attempt to deprive the Romanian people of their constitutional right to freely express their will. This is yet another episode of Russia's broader hybrid aggression against Europe and the rest of the free world, which has been manifested recently in Russia's active efforts to undermine the situation in Georgia, Moldova, and a number of other countries,” the statement said.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Russia's interference in Romania's internal affairs confirms that the Kremlin's aggressive plans go beyond Ukraine and extend to the EU and NATO countries. The ministry believes that the response to this should be maximum support for Ukraine in order to maintain stability in Europe and the world.

Ukraine emphasizes that Romania is an important neighbor and partner. Therefore, solidarity with the Romanian people remains unwavering.

“We sincerely hope that in the course of the further electoral process, Romanian citizens will be able to exercise their right to vote without foreign interference,” the Foreign Ministry added.

Cancellation of election results in Romania

On November 24, Romania held the first round of the presidential election. According to the results of the voting, Călin Georgescu and Elena Lasconi entered the second round.

Georgescu represents a pro-Russian party that calls Russia's war against Ukraine a “conspiracy of American arms manufacturers.” However, on December 6, the Romanian Constitutional Court canceled the results of the first round of elections.

The court considered requests that cited declassified documents, according to which the Georgescu campaign was the result of organized manipulation outside Romania.

Read more about why the election results in Romania were canceled and what will happen next in RBC-Ukraine's article.