Larisa Kozovaya17:22, 12.03.25

Romania sharply criticizes Russia amid scandal over Georgescu’s ban from running in elections.

The Kremlin accused Romania of “trampling” on democratic principles by disqualifying anti-Western and pro-Russian politician Calin Georgescu from the elections . Bucharest responded angrily.

“This is a trampling of all democratic norms in the center of Europe. In this case, Romania has taken the path of trampling on democracy as such,” said the official Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by TASS .

Romania’s Foreign Ministry issued a sharp response , noting that an aggressor state has no right to give “lessons in democracy”

“Dmitry Peskov’s statement is unacceptable, but it fits into the systematic efforts of the Russian Federation to manipulate and interfere in democratic processes in Romania. The Kremlin sees that it is failing, and hence the irritation. Russia has not had free elections for almost 20 years. An aggressor state cannot give lessons in democracy,” the Romanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Romanian statement notes that in Russia itself, the opposition has no access to institutions and legal processes, while opponents are “executed a few meters from the Kremlin” (probably referring to the murder of the famous politician Boris Nemtsov, who spoke out against the occupation of Crimea and Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine, and was shot dead in central Moscow in February 2015).

“Romania has already responded directly to external interference by expelling those who maintained links with one of the paramilitary groups with Nazi roots, linked to the candidate who tried to overthrow the democratic constitutional order in Romania,” Bucharest emphasizes.

(c)UNIAN 2025