Romania’s pro-Europeans fear Putin is pushing them back to dictatorship 

BUCHAREST — Thousands of demonstrators packed into central Bucharest on Thursday night to show their support for European values ahead of a critical election that looks set to see a radical far-right isolationist take power in Romania. 

Călin Georgescu, a NATO and EU-skeptic who has been sympathetic to Russia, shocked the Western political establishment two weeks ago by coming from nowhere to lead the Romanian presidential race. 

He has no party, didn’t take part in big television debates, and was almost unknown to voters before surging into first place in the first round of the vote. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined Romanian intelligence services in pointing the finger at a major foreign influence operation — likely from Russia — for boosting Georgescu’s campaign. 

On Sunday, Georgescu will face center-right, pro-EU candidate Elena Lasconi in the run-off. 

The choice has focused minds in Romania, a country of 19 million that borders Ukraine on the EU’s eastern edge, at a critical time for European security. 

A crowd of thousands gathered in freezing temperatures on central Bucharest’s University Square on Thursday night, chanting “freedom” and waving EU and Romanian flags. Against a stage backdrop of the EU flag, speakers including musicians and other celebrities made their case for an outward-looking country of liberty and European values.

While it was not an openly political campaign event, speakers signaled their clear support for Lasconi in Sunday’s run-off against Georgescu. 

“We are choosing between East and West — until now we have had safety,” said Aurelia Poderescu, 54, who attended the event. “For us, NATO and the EU means safety for our children and grandchildren.” 

That makes Lasconi the only viable option, she said. “On the other side, we have Georgescu, who is a neo-fascist. We don’t want our children and grandchildren to be hunted in the streets from Monday onwards.” 

According to the latest polling from Atlas Intel, Georgescu is on 47 percent, a lead of four points over Lasconi on 43 percent support. Georgescu’s dramatic transformation has shocked Romania’s Western allies, with analysts warning that Russian bots may have amplified his campaign on social media in a highly targeted and effective influence operation. 

Speaking on election monitoring at a summit in Malta, Blinken delivered the West’s clearest statement yet that Putin’s regime was to blame. “Romanian authorities are uncovering a Russian effort — large in scale and well-funded — to influence the recent presidential election,” he said.

For many in a country that spent decades in Moscow’s oppressive orbit, the threat of Russian interference remains alarming. 

“We are in grave danger of becoming like Belarus, where Russia will completely rule our country,” said Andrei Buterez, a 29 year-old software engineer, as he watched the rally in Bucharest. People who support Georgescu “have been fooled by the social media campaign” that he pushed, with help from outsiders, he added. 

Yet millions of voters — including those living in other countries and voting from afar — backed the outsider. His candidacy has split friends and left family members on opposing sides. “It’s absolutely shocking,” Buterez said. “It’s an ice-cold shower that we have been experiencing.” 

Ioana Marussi, 29, also a software engineer, said Georgescu “speaks to those that are unhappy with the political situation,” a large potential audience in Romania. His answer is to take the country back to a time when it was a closed and far-right society, before World War II, she said. 

Georgescu has criticized ongoing support for Ukraine and expressed skepticism about NATO operations on Romanian soil. He has vowed to dismantle Romania’s political party system, which led some to say he wants to establish a dictatorship. 

His campaign has rekindled memories of Romania’s bloody past under Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, and the violent 1989 revolution that overthrew him. “I was 18 at the time and I could hear people shooting,” said Poderescu, quoted earlier. “I have that same fear today. We can’t go back to that time.”