US senators condemn Russian interference in Romanian presidential elections

Four US senators have condemned Russia's interference in the presidential elections in Romania and expressed their support for the country and the integrity of the electoral process.

The senators, who are members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from both the Democratic and Republican parties, argued that the interference is an example of Russia’s hybrid war against Europe.

“As a strong NATO ally, we support Romania as it fights for the integrity of its elections. We condemn Putin’s manipulation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-controlled TikTok to undermine Romania’s democratic process. The world must wake up to the serious threat to democracy posed by Russian manipulation of TikTok to undermine our free societies,” said senators Pete Ricketts, Ben Cardin, Jim Risch, and Jeanne Shaheen in a statement published Monday, December 16.

The four said that they appreciate Romania’s decision to declassify information in the ongoing investigation.

Ricketts and Shaheen are Ranking Member and Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, respectively. Cardin and Risch are the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

On December 4, days before the planned second tour of the now-annulled presidential elections, Romania's Presidential Administration declassified the reports provided by the intelligence services (SRI, SIE), the Foreign Ministry (MAE), and the special telecommunication services (STS) to the Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT).

The reports said that "cyber attacks with the aim of influencing the correctness of the electoral process" took place and, separately, that a "candidate for the presidential elections benefited from a massive exposure due to the preferential treatment that the TikTok platform granted him by not marking him as a political candidate." The candidate in question is Călin Georgescu, the surprise winner of the first round of the presidential elections.

Two days later, based on these reports, the Constitutional Court decided to annul the entire presidential election process, citing its constitutional mandate to ensure the legality and fairness of electoral procedures. It also ordered the process to be restarted from scratch. Thus, in the upcoming presidential elections, each candidate will have to resubmit his or her candidacy and have it approved by the electoral authority.