The Russian Ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, said, in an interview for the Russian press, that Moscow has no influence on the presidential elections in Romania, specifying that the label of Kremlin agent, which was applied to the candidate Călin Georgescu, did not work, because the country’s population did not believe it, reports TASS. Lipaev also warns that such statements have a negative impact on Russian-Romanian relations.
The Russian diplomat explained on Solovyov Live, the show of journalist Vladimir Solovyov, one of Moscow’s main propaganda voices, that in Romania the struggle for power is between two directions – a pro-Brussels one and a nationalist one, “whose ideology is embraced by conservative forces in Europe”.
Neither of these groups is pro-Russian, the ambassador claims. “They are trying to drag Moscow into Romania’s internal political disputes and use it in the fight against the adversary”, explained Vladimir Lipaev.
“For Russia, of course, it is not indifferent who will be the president of Romania, but it is absolutely clear that we are in no way involved in this process, we have not influenced and do not influence these electoral events in any way, but it is simply useless to explain this to our opponents, because they are trying to present things as if Russia had no other concerns than the results of the elections in Romania”, the ambassador stressed.
“This label of Kremlin agent that they tried to put on Georgescu actually didn’t work, because the country’s population didn’t believe it,” he added. The claims that Russia supported Călin Georgescu and financed his campaign are nonsense, and such claims have a negative impact on Russian-Romanian relations, warned the Russian ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev.
“The problem is that they are trying to involve Russia in the internal political struggle and present the case as if Russia were behind Georgescu and the forces supporting him, they say that Russia financed his campaign – of course, absolute nonsense -, that all this is a Russian special operation, which, thanks to the bravery of the Romanian special services, failed,” the diplomat ironically declared on Rossia-24 television.
At the same time, these statements should not be taken seriously, the ambassador stressed. “But, unfortunately, they have a projection both on the bilateral relations between Russia and Romania, and, to a certain extent, on the situation inside the country,” Lipaev pointed out.
Vladimir Putin appointed Vladimir Lipaev as the Russian Federation’s ambassador to Romania in April 2024, following an eight-year term for the previous ambassador, Valeri Kuzmin.
Lipaev was expelled from Estonia in 2023 in response to Russia’s expulsion of the Estonian ambassador to Moscow. In June 2024, Lipaev presented his credentials to the then-President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis.