Russia is likely trying to influence elections in Romania

Digi24 reported the information, citing its sources.

According to them, in order to influence the elections in Romania, Russia works through proxies, intermediaries, in particular through organizations affiliated or funded by Russians, and possibly even through candidates.

As explained in the publication, every Russian citizen in Romania is permanently monitored. Romanian intelligence is also monitoring Russia's attempts to undermine Romania's membership in the EU and NATO.

In addition, Romanian parliamentarians have called for an investigation into whether countries such as Russia, China, and North Korea are interfering in the elections and whether hackers associated with them are attempting to attack state institutions.

The Minister of Digitalization spoke about networks of bots and trolls on social media trying to obtain "illegitimate content to promote certain candidates." The police opened a criminal case over this.

The presidential elections in Romania will be held in two rounds - on 24 November and 8 December.

• As previously reported in Moldovan media, during the second round of the presidential election in Moldova, there was a significant transfer of potentially pro-Russian voters to polling stations.
• Also, before the first round and the referendum, the police exposed the activities of a powerful Russian vote-buying network, funded by the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor.