MAE: Russia has failed in its attempt to influence elections in Romania and Republic of Moldova

Russia attempted to influence elections in Romania and the Republic of Moldova and failed because the citizens of these countries prefer other values and perspectives, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), Andrei Tarnea, said on Friday."Russia has interfered in electoral processes and tried to influence elections in Romania as it has recently done in the Republic of Moldova. It does so systematically. It failed because the citizens of these countries prefer other values and perspectives. We have stated very clearly before that we will never accept lessons about democracy, elections, or press freedom coming from Moscow. A country, aggressor of a sovereign neighbour, trying to annex its territories in a brutal war of conquest, committing war crimes, sending its citizens to death by the hundreds of thousands, where the opposition is assassinated near Kremlin and where there is no independent press or freedom of expression, is not in a position to give lessons to anyone, the MAE spokesperson said regarding the statements of the Russian president on Thursday.Russian President Vladimir Putin maintained on Thursday at the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi, that authorities try to suppress popular political opponents, but such attempts fail. He argued that political elites increasingly deceive citizens and manipulate elections, citing Romania as an example, and stressed that people simply want leaders to focus on their safety, welfare, and quality of life, TASS reported.    The Russian president, whose regime routinely jails or poisons political opponents or protesters, stated that some countries are trying to ban political opponents who already enjoy great trust among voters. These governments, he said, are deceiving their own citizens, escalating the situation externally, and resorting to all sorts of tricks in their own countries.    However, “endlessly turning democratic electoral procedures into a farce and manipulating the will of the people, as happened, for example, in Romania, will not work,” said Vladimir Putin, according to Euronews Romania.   In March 2025, the Romanian Constitutional Court barred far-right figure Calin Georgescu from running for president again, after surprisingly emerging as the first-round winner of last year's annulled presidential elections. The politician is now investigated for attempted coup, and authorities say he benefited from undeclared campaign funding and the assistance of accounts and networks tied to Moscow.