Calin Georgescu, the fringe nationalist politician leading the presidential race in Romania, has told the BBC he will end all support for Ukraine if elected.
He faces a run-off in Sunday’s election, where he will compete against former TV presenter Elena Lasconi, who is campaigning on a pro-EU platform.
Having his only election campaign on social media, Georgescu said he would make “the Romanian people” his priority.
But he denied that his surprise success so far was the result of a Russian-backed influence operation on social media, saying he was working with God and the people and was not concerned about the “lies” of his country’s intelligence agencies.
On Wednesday, in a highly unusual move, Romania’s outgoing president published declassified documents that he described as a massive and “highly coordinated” campaign for Georgescu on TikTok, coordinated by a “state actor.”
The papers include an intelligence assessment that Russia is conducting hybrid attacks against Romania, which it sees as an “enemy state”.
The Constitutional Court is now inundated with requests to review allegations of interference with the intention of annulling the election.
Prosecutors announced today that they are opening a criminal investigation but have no timeline on when it might conclude.
“They’re scared,” Georgescu said, dismissing evidence that hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent pushing campaign content, in violation of Romanian election law and TikTok’s own rules.
He denied being a “man from Moscow”, referring derisively to Romania’s “un-intelligence agencies”.
“They don’t accept that the Romanian people finally said, ‘We want our lives, our country, our dignity,'” he said, portraying himself as fighting against an unhinged establishment.
In a sometimes scathing interview in which he praised Donald Trump and Hungarian populist leader Viktor Orbán, Georgescu referred to Vladimir Putin as “a patriot and a leader.”
He then added: “But I’m not a fan.”
But when questioned about Russia’s war on Ukraine, he first asked, “Are you sure about that?”, appearing to deny the war’s existence.
He later said Romania was interested in pushing for peace on its border but declined to say it would have to be on Kyiv’s terms.
Asked if he would agree to stand with Ukraine “how long it takes,” as the EU says, Georgescu said “no.” Things change, he said.
“I agree that I have to take care of my people. I don’t want to involve my people,” he replied, adding that Romania – an EU and NATO member – does not offer military or political support to its neighbours.
“Zero. Everything stops. I have to take care of my people. We have a lot of problems ourselves.”
It was a dramatic shift in Bucharest’s position and music to Russian ears.
In Romania the president has considerable powers, including influence over areas such as foreign policy. He is the 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 a full-scale invasion in 2022.
It has provided the Patriot missile defense system and financial support. It is an important export route for Ukrainian grain, as Russian bombings have crippled the operation of ports there.
Under President Georgescu, Romania joins Hungary and Slovakia on NATO’s eastern flank as Russia sympathizers.
With Donald Trump in the White House facing the prospect of taking on more responsibility to help Kyiv, this would be a serious dent in EU solidarity in Ukraine.
Georgescu stressed that he would keep Romania inside the EU and NATO, but that everything would be “negotiated” from now on and focused on his country’s interests.
He refused to say that Vladimir Putin’s Russia was a security threat to the West.
Romania is home to a giant NATO military base near the Black Sea, as well as a US missile defense facility.
Georgescu now describes himself as a university teacher, but previously worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN.
He clearly has supporters – his clean-living, Romania-first message has popular appeal, especially outside Bucharest.
But many people in the capital are worried about the direction their country is taking.
This evening, protesters in central Bucharest call for Romania to ally itself more closely with Europe.
Asked if he understood why they were afraid, Georgescu shook his head: “That’s just propaganda.”
