Calin Georgescu, the nationalist politician leading the presidential race in Romania, told the BBC he would end all support for Ukraine if elected.
He is facing a runoff in Sunday’s election, where he will run against Elena Lasconi, a former TV host who is campaigning on a strong platform of support for EU.
Georgescu, the only person campaigning for the election on social networks, said he would put “the Romanian people” as his top priority.
But he denies that his surprise success so far is the result of a Russian-backed influence operation, saying he is not concerned about the “lies” of intelligence agencies his country as he worked with God and his people.
On Wednesday, in a highly unusual move, Romania’s outgoing president released declassified documents detailing what it called a massive and “highly organized” campaign for Georgescu. on TikTok coordinated by a “state actor”.
The documents include an intelligence assessment that Russia is carrying out hybrid attacks on Romania, which it considers a “hostile state”.
The constitutional court is currently inundated with requests to consider allegations of interference aimed at possibly annulling the election.
Prosecutors today announced they are opening a criminal investigation but have no timeline for when that might end.
“They are scared” is Georgescu’s way of brushing off evidence that hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent promoting campaign content for him, violating both Romanian election law and TikTok’s own rules.
He denied that he was “Moscow’s man”, derisively referring to Romania’s “non-intelligence agencies”.
“They cannot accept that the Romanian people have finally said, ‘we want to take back our lives, our country, our dignity,’” he said, describing himself as fighting against a resilient institutions.
In a sometimes uncomfortable interview in which he praised Donald Trump and Hungarian populist leader Viktor Orban, Georgescu called Vladimir Putin a “patriot and a leader”.
He then added: “But I’m not a fan.”
But when asked about Russia’s war with Ukraine, he first asked: “Are you sure about that?”, appearing to deny the existence of the war.
He later said Romania was only interested in promoting peace on its borders but refused saying this was subject to Kiev’s conditions.
When asked if he would agree to stand by Ukraine, as the EU says, “for however long it takes”, Georgescu said “No”. He said everything will change.
“I just agree that I have to take care of my people. I don’t want to involve my people,” he replied, clarifying that Romania – an EU and NATO member – would not provide military support or politics too for his neighbor.
“No. Everything stops. I just have to take care of my people. We have a lot of problems ourselves.”
That would be a significant change in Bucharest’s status, and it would be a significant change in music for the Russians.
The president in Romania has 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 Kyiv since its full-scale invasion in 2022.
It provides the Patriot missile defense system as well as financial support. It has also become an important export route for Ukrainian grain, as Russian bombardment has paralyzed port operations there.
Under President Georgescu, Romania will join Hungary and Slovakia as Russia’s supporters on NATO’s eastern flank.
It would also seriously damage EU solidarity towards Ukraine, just as the country faces the prospect of having to take on more responsibility for supporting Kyiv when Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Georgescu emphasized that he would keep Romania in the EU and NATO, but everything from now on would be “negotiated” and focused on his country’s interests.
He refused to say that Vladimir Putin’s Russia was a security threat to the West.
His endorsement of conspiracy theories has also raised concerns, including denials of the Covid pandemic and doubts that anyone has ever set foot on the Moon.
Romania is home to a huge NATO military base, near the Black Sea, as well as a US missile defense facility.
Georgescu currently describes himself as a university teacher, but previously worked at the Foreign Ministry and the United Nations.
He clearly has supporters – his clean-living, Romania-first message has widespread appeal, especially outside Bucharest.
But in the capital, many people are worried about the direction their country is taking.
Tonight, protesters will gather in central Bucharest to call on Romania to continue its close alliance with Europe.
When asked if he understood why they were afraid, Georgescu shook his head: “It’s just propaganda.”
