A pro-Russian candidate creates a surprise in the Romanian presidential election: the Kremlin says it “does not know him well”

Lhe Kremlin said on Monday that it “does not know well” the pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu, who created a surprise by coming first in the first round of the presidential election in Romania on Sunday.

After the counting of more than 99% of the ballots, Calin Georgescu, 62 years old, opposed to aid to neighboring Ukraine and critic of NATO, collected 22.94% of the votes cast, ahead of Elena Lasconi, 52 years old. , the center-right mayor of a small town (19.17%).

“We cannot say that we are familiar with the views of this candidate regarding relations with our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

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Towards an evolution of diplomatic relations?

As for the current Romanian authorities, Romania’s policy under their leadership “is not friendly” towards Moscow, he recalled, adding that Russia “will see” how things develop and ” who will be the winner” of the second round.

Calin Georgescu created a surprise after a TikTok campaign that went viral in recent days, focused on the need to stop all support for kyiv.

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It is an upheaval for the country of 19 million inhabitants which had until now resisted nationalist postures, distinguishing itself from Hungary or Slovakia. The President of the Romanian Republic occupies an essentially ceremonial function but exercises significant moral authority and influence in foreign policy.