Durov vs France

Romania’s foreign, interior and defence ministries have denounced what they called “Russian interference” in Sunday’s presidential runoff.

In a joint statement issued in the closing hours of voting, they warned Romanians about an alleged fake news campaign that had been rolled out on Telegram, TikTok and across other social media platforms.

Spokesperson for the department for communication and public diplomacy at the foreign ministry, Andrei Tarnea, said in a post on X that “once again we see the distinctive signs of Russian interference … to influence the electoral process.

In a coordinated move, the three ministries pointed to a falsified video that was published on Sunday that falsely claimed that French troops stationed in Romania had been dressed in Romanian gendarmerie uniforms to interfere in the country’s election.

“The author of the post claims, without providing any proof, that the French soldiers stationed in Romania as part of the NATO Battle Group deployed in Cincu would be prepared to act, clandestinely equipped in Romanian Gendarmerie uniforms, to start a civil war in our country, at the end of the electoral process, in the event that a particular candidate is declared the winner,” the defence ministry explained.

The ministry went on to dismiss the information as false but said it had the potential to create confusion among Romanian citizens.

“The material posted is dangerous disinformation, without any real basis or concrete evidence. It is a clear example of manipulation by spreading conspiracy theories that instil distrust in state institutions, international partners and the democratic process,” the defence ministry added.

The three ministries claimed that they had found a direct link between the video and Moscow but gave no further details at this time.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin responded by slamming Bucharest. First, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that the elections were “at least strange”.

Then, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova entered the fray, stating in a Telegram post: “First of all, I would ask you not to call this an election. Secondly, it is impossible to get involved in this, you can only get into trouble.”

?Durov vs France, again

Meanwhile, Pavel Durov, the founder of the popular messaging app Telegram, claimed in a post on X that he had been approached by the head of French intelligence and asked to block conservative voices on the app in Romania.

“This spring, at the Salon des Batailles in the Hôtel de Crillon, Nicolas Lerner, the head of the French intelligence, asked me to ban conservative voices in Romania before the elections. I refused,” he wrote.

“We didn’t block protesters in Russia, Belarus or Iran. We won’t start doing it in Europe.”

France’s Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) said in a statement that its officials have met with Durov several times over the years “to firmly remind him of his company’s and his personal responsibilities in preventing terrorist threats and child pornography.”

However, the agency “strongly rejects allegations that on these occasions requests were made to ban accounts related to any electoral process.”

Durov’s accusation was echoed on X by the app’s owner Elon Musk who wrote, “Wow”.

But later on Sunday, Durov reposted the allegations but in his new post removed references to France and Lerner but provided no explanation about why he had revised his statement.

French authorities arrested Durov, a Russian multi-billionaire who holds other nationalities, including French, in Paris in late August 2024 as part of an investigation into child sexual abuse images, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions linked to Telegram.

He has since been released from custody. In September 2024, he criticised the French authorities’ investigation and promised to step up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app.