Russian propaganda has penetrated more strongly and deeply than in many European countries. The narratives which are extremely hostile to the West, are being rolled out live not only at a top political level, through voices from the nationalist parties, but also at a grassroots level, through regular people on social media.
The rise of Calin Georgescu in the 2024 presidential elections, AUR’s first place in the polls, the recent rise of Anca Alexandrescu as one of the leading candidates for mayor of Bucharest this weekend are just some of the most spectacular echoes of the spread of the Kremlinist net in Romanian society.
It was not a coincidence that the hard-to-believe episode, which occurred at a solemn celebration on Romania’s National Day, when a historical figure, General Berthelot who played an important role in Romania’s history was loudly booed, on the grounds … that he came from France.
The episode was reported by historian Liviu Zgârciu, from the National Museum of the Union in Alba Iulia: “None of those who booed had any idea who Berthelot was, only the fact that it was mentioned he was French to this reaction.” For those who are curious about his role in Romanian history, HERE’s a link from Wikipedia, about who General Berthelot was.
It is no coincidence that many of the Romanians fished by AUR, Diana Șoșoacă, Calin Georgescu or the smaller extremist party POT say that everything that comes from France and is connected to France stinks (although they’d probably all love a trip to Paris).
Russian propaganda, which has decisively shaped this type of electorate, has built an odious imaginary links to France which it calls: “Satanist”, through its secularism; support for LGBT, and atheistic rationalism and of course that it is at the forefront of European support for Ukraine facing a full-scale invasion by Russia.
Moreover, Russian propagandists joined forces with American MAGA influencers to promote the madness that the French president’s wife is actually a man.
Systematically exposed to these narratives, a bunch of sane Romanians have become willing voices for the sickest theses invented in Moscow’s agitprop laboratories.
In fact, President Emmanuel Macron has himself become a favorite target of hatred, something easy to notice when you scroll through social media where the so-called “sovereignist” followers nervously post content, when you talk to a fellow citizen “stolen” by the AUR-ist wing, you invariably end up with them cursing…Macron.
I say that this is not a coincidence because, after Ukraine, with which Russia is at war, France ranks as the next most targeted country by Russian propaganda and systematic disinformation operations orchestrated by Moscow abroad.
Let’s recap:
- Romania has been under an informational bombardment of the Russian-led hybrid war for 10 years – a fact officially acknowledged by President Nicușor Dan.
- France is a ‘privileged’ target of this war, immediately after Ukraine, a fact attested by rigorous studies and officially recognized at the level of the French prime minister.
- France has deployed French soldiers to defend Romanian territory in the event of a Russian invasion as France being the framework nation of the NATO Battle Group in Romania. So France is a painful thorn in the side of Moscow’s military and political planners.
Unite the above points and the cause and effect relationship is immediately clear: the priority given by Moscow’s propaganda to Paris is also reflected as a priority in Romania which is intensely bombarded by Russian propaganda.
For the Putin regime, which has been locked in the war in Ukraine for four years, the undermining of the image of France and the president of this country is fundamental for two other reasons than those already listed above:
- Emmanuel Macron was the first Western leader who publicly voiced the possibility in which Ukraine’s security in the face of the Russian advance would be supported or guaranteed by the deployment of foreign troops. It was February 2024 when Macron addressed this topic. It is precisely the kind of healthy approach that Western Europe had been fleeing from, and because Europe kept doing so, Putin’s Russia took it like a blank check to start a series of wars: in Georgia (2008), in Ukraine (2014) and again in Ukraine (2022).
- And now, almost two years after that intervention, it is Macron who is also taking another giant step: he warns Ukraine’s European allies that the great common ally, the US, could betray Ukraine on the issue of ceding Ukrainian territories. A truth on many lips has finally been spoken by the same Macron. At a time when Putin feels he has an ally in the White House, the efforts of the Elysee leader therefore represent an intolerable obstacle for the Kremlin.
The fact that President Emmanuel Macron did not speak meaninglessly becomes clear if we quickly look around: today, the world has come very close to translating into reality each of the two possibilities enunciated by the leader in Paris, within less than two years.
The two great “Macron moments”: February 2024 and December 2025 – will remain a reference, and today they are felt as extreme pain by the Putin regime.
It is not surprising that these days the Russian foreign spy service, SVR, has gone so far as to accuse Paris of preparing for a military intervention in Ukraine.
And, again, it is not surprising that something similar had been launched by former Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu (banned after reports that Russia meddled to help his campaign). At one point he said that NATO would attack Russia, starting from a base on Romanian territory.
It should be noted, in this context, that in the spring of 2025, when Calin Georgescu was cornered by prosecutors, the Russian SVR officially jumped to the defense of the pro-Russian Romanian former presidential candidate.
As always when it comes to Moscow, nothing is accidental. As always, when you hear a politician endlessly promoting ideas from the Russian playbook, it isn’t an accident.
The wannabe Bucharest mayors helping the pro-Russian camp with conspiracies about polls and potatoes
