French Ambassador: We witnessed a systematic disinformation campaign; France upset Moscow

  The French Ambassador in Bucharest, Nicolas Warnery, stated, on Thursday, during a press conference, that there was "a systematic disinformation campaign" regarding his country during the presidential elections in Romania."Basically, we have witnessed a systematic disinformation campaign, sometimes with malicious interpretations, with mistakes, with lies, with the aim of harming France. Who is winning from this campaign? Russia. Why this campaign? Simply, because France has upset Moscow with months of diplomatic initiatives to support Ukraine in the peace process (...) and, secondly, because the French president and then the government have denounced in clear terms the hybrid attack during the presidential elections in Romania last November," the diplomat said.He added that there were several events that were presented distortedly in some media, such as his visit to the Constitutional Court and his trips within the territory.Warnery explained that his visit to the Constitutional Court was aimed at preparing a congress of 35 French-speaking Constitutional Courts and not at any possible involvement in the electoral process, and that his trips within the territory are part of a diplomat's usual schedule.The ambassador denied any interference in last month's presidential elections in Romania, also denying the narratives that circulated on social media platforms during the election period."I say it very clearly - the head of the French secret services was not in Romania, he was not involved in the electoral process and obviously there was no coup attempt at [the military base] Cincu. Our troops are not here for that. They are here to defend Romania," he stressed.Asked why he did not react to fake news before the second round of the elections, he said that he chose to respect the "rule of silence" during the electoral period.The ambassador also emphasized the responsibility of the media. "I believe that the war of disinformation is still asymmetrical, so the aggressor will have the advantage. In this context, the media can verify information and can oppose disinformation," he explained. (Photo:https://ro.ambafrance.org/-Romana-)