Romania's Prosecutor General tells how Russia interfered in the 2024 presidential election

Romanian Prosecutor General Alex Florent announced the results of an investigation into Russian interference in the 2024 presidential election. A large-scale hybrid attack was organized, reports Euronews Romania.

According to the prosecutor, Russian trolls and bot farms attempted to harm Romania from within – to pit society against each other on social media, creating fakes, promoting "nostalgia for Soviet times" and undermining trust in state institutions.

"Our investigation revealed a large-scale network of websites whose traffic was generated by advertising. Most of them were sponsored by four companies with ties to the Russian Federation," said Florenta .

According to him, social media saw the spread of messages created with the help of artificial intelligence, which created tension and caused a "violent reaction" from the public. The hashtag "revolution" was actively used in connection with the elections in the country.

This campaign coincided with the online promotion of one of the right-wing presidential candidates, Kelin Georgescu. He was brought to trial on charges of complicity in a coup attempt, along with the alleged leader of the paramilitary group Horatiu Potra and 20 others.

"As a result of this microtargeting, four main types of narratives were identified that have been used since 2022 to influence public opinion. These four types of narratives are: nostalgic, identity-based, conspiracy, religious, and alternative medicine," Florent told.

• on November 24, 2024, Romania held the first round of presidential elections. There were 14 candidates on the ballot. In the second round, which was to take place on December 8,, Georgescu (22.95%) and pro-European Lasconi (19.17%) went through to the second round.
• On December 4, Romania's Supreme National Defense Council declassified documents from the special services, that testify, in particular about Russia's interference in favor of Georgescu.
• On December 6, Romania canceled the results of the first round of the presidential election and the entire election process amid Russia's interference.
• In May 2025, the founder of the Telegram messenger Pavel Durov claimed that France had asked him to interfere in Romania's elections, Paris denied him.
• In May, Romanian prosecutors brought new charges against far-right Georgescu and in July he was tried for propaganda of fascism.