Russia changes online tactics in Romania with aggressive pro-Putin campaign on TikTok

Ilan Șor, Vladimir Putin, Călin Georgescu. Cu alte cuvinte: omul Moscovei pentru alegerile din Moldova, Moscova însăși și omul Moscovei în alegerile din România

TikTok has been flooded in the past week by thousands of accounts pushing pro-Russia and pro-Putin propaganda in Romanian, a new report says.

For the first time, Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly directly addresses Romanians: “How many of you want me as president of Romania?” or “If Russia attacks Europe, I will fight for Russia”, “Our enemy is Europe, not Russia”, Hotnews reported.

  1. A first is “Putin” addressing Romanians directly.
  2. The second is that “Putin” on TikTok invokes a future war between Russia and the EU, not between Russia and NATO, as in the past. The US isn’t mentioned in the posts, and hostility is directed at Europe.

“Putin: Romania is a dictatorial state that follows the orders of the European Union. I will have to free them” – reads one of the TikTok posts illustrated with the image of Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Russian flag.

Most of the messages are presented as if they were sent by Putin himself and refer to a possible war between Russia and the EU. Numerous posts induce the idea that Putin is loved by Romanians and that would like him to be the president of Romania. Many messages contain grammatical errors.

The first category: those who made pro-Georgescu propaganda

There are two broad categories, according to a report by HotNews. Older accounts, which were used for pro-Georgescu propaganda, some with millions of likes have switched to pro-Russia propaganda.

Numerous other accounts, such as shadowTales, sovernani, Sinceritate, afinax, ankaversace, gabiborta, dany, Nica Bucur Ionut Vio, Leo, Cosmin, Daniela Roșu, Amy Nicy, Calator prin Lume, dab_tv, Ovi1, @străinul, Cutur Ana Maria, clau have a mixture of  anti-system messages with those of sympathy for Putin, Ceaușescu or Georgescu.

Many of these posts get replies from other accounts with pro-Putin and pro-Russia messages.

Second category: newly established accounts

Some of the accounts have been created in February and March 2025. They already have  tens of thousands of followers and hundreds of comments (bots) with threatening messages against Europe, or pro-Putin and pro-Russia content.

Examples of pro-Russia accounts: Vladimirovich Putin, Vladimir Valdimirovich Putin, vladimirputinofficial, Banner of Christ, 2025lastsurvivor, suver sasha, pikachulo, etc.

Some of them send the message that Russia is a country with civilized cities, with a high standard of living, where people can thousands of euros of they work in construction business for example.

HotNews tried to connect with some of these accounts, but did not receive a response.

Reporters asked the National Audiovisual Council and the Romanian Intelligence Service for a point of view on this phenomenon observed on Tik-Tok and the measures taken, but the institutions did not respond by the date of publication of this article.

What messages are circulating on TikTok: “I swear by the Patriot Flag, if Russia attacks Europe, I will fight for Russia!”

HotNews has selected some of the dozens of accounts identified on TikTok, which convey pro-Russian and anti-Europe messages.

  1. “The 170,000 Romanians who follow me should worry you. They realized that their enemy is Europe and not Russia” – the account Nothing without God (@mosurespect), with over 4 million likes.

Numerous accounts responded to this post, with pro-Putin messages, such as: “Putin has time to talk to Romanians”.

  1. “Yes, I like Putin! I love Russia! In Russia, man is man and word is word, not rfe that sells” – IZVORANCA account, with 1.4 million likes.

IZVORANCA has hundreds of comments on this post, most of them with pro-Russia content: “I love Russia from the heart too. Come on, Putin”, “Religion brings me closer to Russia, while woke ideology distances me from European non-values”.

  1. “If Russia attacks Europe, I swear to fight for Russia! Our enemy is Europe!” – The official vladimirputin account, with over 30 thousand likes.

Other accounts responded to this post, with messages such as: Russia will destroy Europe, without nuclear weapons, it is the last option, destructive! Avoid a direct war with Russia!”, “Hooray, hooray, hooray, long live Putin. Respect!”

  1. “I swear on the patriot flag, if Russia attacks Europe, I will fight for Russia!” – Vladimirovich Putin account, with over 200 thousand likes. Another message from this account: “How can Romania not love me? I opened an account in one day and I jumped 10,000 followers!”.
  2. ”If Putin attacks Ro, me and 500,000 other Ro’s will come upon you.”
    1. “If Putin attacks Ro, I and 500,000 other Ro’s will come on top of you” – dumitrugagica458 account, with over 30 thousand likes. At this post there are numerous pro-Putin messages, for example: I personally support Russia no matter what. Weapons to give us because I know what I have to do. Hooray, hooray, hooray.”

    “Yes, I have always defended Romania. Don’t you see that 99% of the comments are pro-Russia and pro-Romania?” – Vladimirovich Putin’s account.

    “These 7000 Romanians who have already been following me for 3 days should worry you. They realized that their enemy is Europe and not Russia” – identical messages on the account of Vladimirovich Putin and on the account of Adrian Simionovich, with almost 100 thousand likes.

    An image of Russian President Vladimir Putin is also posted on this account, accompanied by the question: “How many of you want me as president of Romania?”. Several accounts respond that they want Putin to be president.

    “If the Romanian elected officials want war with us, then I ask the Romanian people to leave the country”

    1. “In Russia, people earn from 2,000 euros upwards, in construction. But your Europe is getting it into your head that Russia is poor” – Vladimirovich Putin’s account.
    2. “Romanians privately ask me to give them missiles to their Government. Wait Romanians, maybe, maybe” – Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s account, with over 350 thousand likes.
    3. “If the Romanian elected officials want war with us, then I ask the Romanian people to leave the country. I don’t want to harm ordinary people,” said Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
    4. “Putin: Romania is a dictatorial state that follows the orders of the European Union. I will have to release them” – Cutur Ana Maria’s account. This post features answers such as: “Trump didn’t want to help us, but maybe Putin will help us” or “Russia should always liberate us”.
    5. “Putin: Romania is a dictatorial state that follows the orders of the European Union. I will have to release them” – Cosmin’s account, with almost 200 thousand likes.
    6. “Romanians have realized that the Enemy is Europe, not Russia” – the account Traveler through the World, with over 500 thousand likes.
    7. “Putin is the most powerful president of the most powerful country in the world, with the beautiful name Russia” – Leo’s account, with almost 400 thousand likes.
    8. “Better with Putin than with PNL, PSD, UDMR, Ciolacu, Bolojan and all the traitors of the country” – Gabiborta account, with over 70 thousand likes.
    9. “The next war in Europe will be between Russia and fascism, only fascism will be called democracy – Fidel Castro” – Catalin M.

 

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