President Klaus Iohannis has finally named Russia as the foreign state that interfered in his country’s presidential elections, which were subsequently annulled due to foreign interference.
Romanian authorities have previously pointed to a “state actor” who meddled in the presidential ballot to favor NATO and EU skeptic, Calin Georgescu, a near unknown who improbably won the first round.
But they never explicitly named Russia, something that U.S Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did as the information was revealed.
But on Wednesday, for the first time, the cautious Romanian leader formally named Russia as the foreign country that meddled in the process and explained how the intelligence agencies had reached the conclusion.
“We know what happened, but it is extremely complicated, with diplomatic procedures, to point the finger and say ‘it was you’,” he told reporters in Brussels, speaking for the first time at length since the elections were canceled on Dec. 6, two days before the second round.
“In cyberspace and in malign actions, attribution is very complicated because it can only be done if you have concrete and unrefuted evidence. In cyberspace it is complicated to have something without a shadow of a doubt,”he said adding that an investigation to ascertain a foreign agent could take years.
However, he confirmed that the intelliegence agencies had sufficient evidence to determine that Russia intervened in Romania’s presidential elections.
“From the way they acted, from the way the action of attacks on TikTok was carried out, TikTok accounts in Russia, simultaneous attack on all servers that were caught in the vote count, attacks that were rejected. These multiple actions cannot be carried out by individual actors, groups or parties,”he said.
“They have such a magnitude and complexity that only a state actor can do such a thing. In the intelligence community, these models are very well known and it is known who acts in this way, and this is where Russia was,” Iohannis said.
Romania’s Supreme Defense Council did not explicitly mention Russia in the official communication, instead referring to the involvement of a “state actor”.
Romania’s national intelligence agency, the SRI said that reports declassified on December 4 spoke of an operation prepared in advance, in favor of Calin Georgescu and which has “the modus operandi of a state actor”.
Almost 800 TikTok accounts were created in 2016, and Telegram accounts in 2022 and all were mobilized two weeks before the Nov. 24 election.
Moscow warns Moldova not to interfere in pro-Russian region as gas crisis deepens
