First came Romania, where a month of political uproar ended yesterday in a win by the liberal, pro-EU mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, with 53.6% of the vote.

Following the annulment of last year’s presidential race due to claims of Russian interference, hard-right nationalist candidate Calin Georgescu was disqualified, and new elections were scheduled.

Dan’s opponent in this month’s race — far-right AUR party leader George Simion — won the first-round vote earlier this month, and was expected to follow through with a second-round victory as well.

But Romanians, eager for a change, put their faith in Dan, who campaigned on promises of fighting corruption and maintaining support for neighboring Ukraine, saying:

“I want to choose the pro-European way. It’s the only way. It’s really important.” [BBC, May 19, 2025.]

And no one is more aware of the importance of this outcome than Romania’s other neighbors, Moldova and Ukraine. Moldova’s President, Maia Sandu, said that “Moldova and Romania stand together, supporting one another and working side by side for a peaceful, democratic, and European future for all our citizens.” [Id.]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had this to add: “For Ukraine, as a neighbour and friend, it is important to have Romania as a reliable partner.” [Id.]

Good news for most of Europe, indeed.

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To make the day complete, Poland — already in the capable hands of Prime Minister Donald Tusk — also gave the largest number of votes in its first presidential election round to liberal Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski. However, with only 31.3% of the vote, and a 29.5% share going to conservative Karol Nawrocki, a second round will be held on June 1st. [Adam Easton, BBC, May 19, 2025.]

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Of course, no election, anywhere in the world, would be complete without follow-up comments from the fun bunch in the Kremlin. And they did not disappoint yesterday, either.

Needless to say, Vladimir Putin was less than pleased with Romania’s choice of West-friendly Dan. His spokesman, the irrepressible Dmitry Peskov, had this to offer:

“We know the story of the candidate who had the best chance of winning. Without bothering to find any justification, he was simply forcibly removed from the race.” [Reuters, May 19, 2025.]

Oh, Dima . . . have you never heard the adage about people in glass houses throwing stones?

Of course, Russia has previously denied any role in Georgescu’s campaign, accusing Romanian authorities of political manipulation.

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And then, oddly, into the picture stepped multi-billionaire Pavel Durov. You may remember him as the Russian-born founder of the Telegram messenger app, who holds multiple citizenships (Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates, and Saint Kitts and Nevis). He left Russia when the Putin government pressured him to release confidential information on clients of his first successful venture, VKontakte (VK), and has been dividing his time mainly between France and the UAE.

But Durov got into similar difficulty with the French government over some of his, shall we say, less savory Telegram clients. He is currently under investigation, and unable to leave France.

Well, not a lot has been heard from him for a while, until recently, when he accused French intelligence of “pressur[ing] him to suppress voices supportive of hard-right [Romanian] runner-up George Simion, who had pledged to end military aid to Ukraine.” [Reuters, May 19, 2025.]

Despite denials by France’s foreign intelligence service, the Kremlin’s Peskov said:

“The fact that European countries, France, Great Britain, Germany, interfere in the internal affairs of other countries is not news.” [Id.]

To which I can only respond:

“Good one, Dima!”

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
5/20/25