France denies claims of Romanian election interference
The French Foreign Ministry has vehemently denied undertaking any attempts to interfere in Romania's presidential election after Telegram founder Pavel Durov claimed that he was asked to silence Romanian conservative voices on the platform ahead of Sunday's runoff.
The second round of voting in Romania is being contested by pro-EU centrist Nicusor and Eurosceptic George Simion, who have been running neck and neck in a tight race.
Durov stated in a post on Telegram on the day of the vote that a 'Western European government' approached his company with a request to block conservatives in Romania ahead of elections.
The tech entrepreneur did not explicitly name the nation behind the request but posted an emoji of a baguette in a thinly veiled reference to France. Hours later, the French Foreign Ministry responded with a lengthy statement on X calling 'the recent accusations against France' completely 'unfounded.'
'France categorically rejects these allegations,' the ministry said, maintaining that such claims were 'merely a diversionary maneuver from the real threats of interference targeting Romania.'
Durov then promptly hit back by stating that he was personally approached over the issue by the head of France's foreign intelligence agency, Nicolas Lerner, at a Paris hotel this spring.
In its statement, the French ministry also tried to point finger at Moscow, saying that the first round of the Romanian presidential election initially held in December 2024 was annulled 'by the competent Romanian authorities' following what it called 'very real' interference from actors linked to Russia.
The ministry was referring to a decision by Romania's Constitutional Court to overturn the first round result after it was won by independent right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu, who secured 23% of the vote. The court cited electoral irregularities and suspected Russian 'hybrid' influence. Moscow has denied any involvement.
Georgescu was later barred from running again by the Central Electoral Bureau, which cited his alleged 'anti-democratic' and 'extremist' positions and procedural violations. Simion publicly supported Georgescu and also accused France of 'putting a lot of money and pressure' into subverting the vote in Romania.
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