BUCHAREST, May 18. /TASS/. Romania sees signs of "Russian interference" in the second round of presidential election, Romanian foreign ministry spokesperson, Andrei Tarnea, said.
"During Romania’s ongoing presidential election yet again we see the hallmarks of Russian interference. A viral campaign of fake news on Telegram and other social media platforms is aimed to influence the electoral process. This was expected and Romanian authorities debunked the fake news," he wrote on his X page.
Earlier in the day, Telegram co-founded Pavel Durov wrote on his Telegram channel that a "Western European government <…> approached Telegram, asking us to silence conservative voices in Romania ahead of today’s presidential elections."
Romania is holding the runoff presidential election on May 18. These are repeat presidential elections. The planned election was interrupted at the end of last year by the Constitutional Court of Romania (CC) after nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu received the majority of votes in the first round on November 24, 2024. This was done under the pretext of illegal financing of Georgescu's campaign, hacker attacks on the digital infrastructure used in the electoral process, as well as alleged, but unproven, Russian interference.