The electoral campaign, agitated by the "Russian agent" case

The "Russian agent" case has seriously stirred up the waters in the local electoral campaign. George Simion, a candidate in the presidential elections, fell into the middle. The AUR leader rejected last night the accusations according to which he would have met with GRU officers, stating that, if evidence appears, he will withdraw from the race for Cotroceni. Asked, following the statements of the president of the SRI Commission, if he is a Russian agent, Simion declared in a TV show that "a PNL senator or deputy is in the electoral campaign", and "the SRI position has been clearly stated", asking the SRI to provide any evidence it has of any association with him. He claimed that all his public activity is visible, and the ban on his access to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine is strictly related to the unionist activities he carried out: "Let everyone see those images, I have nothing to fear, I have no skeletons in the closet, if there are images, let them appear, the only information in the public space is that at the age of 23 I would have seen someone from an agency..." He denied that he was a "Russian agent". Simion signed a written statement that he had never met with Russian officers and that, if evidence in this regard appears, he would withdraw from the race for Cotroceni: "I sign, it's no problem. If photos and video clips appear that are not fake, you realize that I withdraw. But there is no such thing. Someone who is recruited by a foreign power, as I think many of our politicians are, must leave".

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission for the Control of the SRI, Ioan Chirteş, stated about the ban on the entry of the leader of the AUR, George Simion, into Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, that there are accusations and clear evidence that George Simion had meetings with GRU officers and tried to hijack peaceful demonstrations, electoral marches. In our country, we do not know if George Simion tried to hijack, Chirteş added. MEP Cristian Terheş, also a presidential candidate from the Romanian National Conservative Party (PNCR), claims that there are recordings of the Ukrainian services, from a series of meetings that George Simion had, especially in the Chernivtsi area, with people who belonged to various Russian intelligence services.

On the other hand, the campaign team of Mircea Geoana, an independent candidate for the Romanian presidency, is asking Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to declassify the documents or to immediately say what information it has received from Moldovan and Ukrainian partners about George Simion's meetings with FSB and GRU agents. "The campaign team of Mircea Geoana, an independent candidate for the Romanian presidency, is asking Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to declassify the documents or to immediately say what information it has received from Moldovan and Ukrainian partners about George Simion's meetings with FSB and GRU agents," an official statement said. According to the quoted source, "Romanian citizens have the right to know, before the first round of the presidential elections, whether the PSD is trying, through the Hrebenciuc plan, confirmed by George Simion, to help a Russian influence agent enter the presidential final in Romania." Geoana's team also states: "After George Simion confirmed the PSD plan to help the AUR candidate reach the second round and after the head of the SRI commission stated that there is clear evidence of Simion's meetings with Russian agents, Marcel Ciolacu is obliged to answer the following questions: 1. Why are you hiding the information received from the Moldovan and Ukrainian partners about George Simion's relationship with the Kremlin? 2. The failure to publish this information received from the Moldovan and Ukrainian authorities to date is related to the partnership that the PSD has with the pro-Moscow party from Chisinau, led by Ion Ceban. 3. Mr. Marcel Ciolacu, what were you planning with Putin's people on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine, on February 16, 2022, and what connections do you have with a real agent connected to the Russian secret services, Ivan Ceban, whose political campaign was led by FSB agent Iurii Gudilin, today under US sanctions? Until the situation is clarified, the parties involved will speculate extensively on the subject, hoping to obtain electoral benefits.