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Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted earlier that he was requested to dam Romanian conservatives on his social media platform
The French Overseas Ministry has vehemently denied enterprise any makes an attempt to intrude in Romania’s presidential election after Telegram founder Pavel Durov claimed that he was requested to silence Romanian conservative voices on the platform forward of Sunday’s runoff.
The second spherical of voting in Romania is being contested by pro-EU centrist Nicusor and Eurosceptic George Simion, who’ve been working neck and neck in a good race.
Durov said in a put up on Telegram on the day of the vote {that a} “Western European authorities” approached his firm with a request to dam conservatives in Romania forward of elections.
The tech entrepreneur didn’t explicitly identify the nation behind the request however posted an emoji of a baguette in a thinly veiled reference to France. Hours later, the French Overseas Ministry responded with a prolonged assertion on X calling “the current accusations in opposition to France” utterly “unfounded.”
“France categorically rejects these allegations,” the ministry stated, sustaining that such claims have been “merely a diversionary maneuver from the true threats of interference focusing on Romania.”
Durov then promptly hit again by stating that he was personally approached over the problem by the top of France’s international intelligence company, Nicolas Lerner, at a Paris lodge this spring.
In its assertion, the French ministry additionally tried to level finger at Moscow, saying that the primary spherical of the Romanian presidential election initially held in December 2024 was annulled “by the competent Romanian authorities” following what it referred to as “very actual” interference from actors linked to Russia.
The ministry was referring to a choice by Romania’s Constitutional Courtroom to overturn the primary spherical consequence after it was gained by impartial right-wing candidate Calin Georgescu, who secured 23% of the vote. The court docket cited electoral irregularities and suspected Russian “hybrid” affect. Moscow has denied any involvement.
Georgescu was later barred from working once more by the Central Electoral Bureau, which cited his alleged “anti-democratic” and “extremist” positions and procedural violations. Simion publicly supported Georgescu and likewise accused France of “placing some huge cash and strain” into subverting the vote in Romania.
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