Russia's Kremlin denies Romania's accusations of interference in presidential election

​​​​​​​By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Romania's accusations on Tuesday of Russian interference in its presidential election.

Peskov told the Russian news agency, RBC, that accusations by Romanian Prosecutor General Alex Florencia of Russian interference in its presidential elections does not correspond with reality.

"No, it doesn’t match (the truth). Let us recall how Washington accused Russia of intervening in (the 2016) elections, attempting to destabilize, and so on, then they themselves admitted that it wasn’t true. In the case of Romania, it’s exactly the same," he said, referring to US President Donald Trump calling such allegations a "hoax."

Florenta accused Russia of orchestrating a "hybrid operation" aimed at Romania, involving four Russian-linked firms managing bots and fake online profiles reaching more than 1.3 million people.

The Romanian presidential elections that concluded in May were a repeat of an earlier poll. The original electoral process was suspended in late 2024 by Romania's Constitutional Court after nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu finished first in the initial round on Nov. 24.

The court's ruling cited illegal campaign financing, cyberattacks targeting the election's digital infrastructure and allegations of unproven Russian interference.

In the subsequent run-off vote, the independent, pro-European candidate and Mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, was elected, becoming the country's fifth president.