Publication of the article „The US Should Defend Democracy – and Calin Georgescu – in Romania” is a new hybrid warfare action by the Kremlin, using influence networks in Romania.
Over a year after the presidential elections, the lack of a consistent response to Russia’s attacks, and Calin Georgescu, Vladimir Putin’s main political influencer in Romania, remains unscathed, highlighting how vulnerable, compromised, and corrupt our national security system is.
The „Newsweek” operation succeeded. The article was removed from the publication’s website only after reactions from journalists and public opinion in the country. Romania took no action to track and deter a hybrid attack against our country.
All pro-Russian media outlets picked it up, distributed it, and disseminated it on TikTok and other social networks, providing propaganda fuel to Moscow-controlled groups, both directly and indirectly, which are much more extensive and influential in Romanian society than authorities let on.
Putin Writes to Trump About Calin Georgescu
"Romanian democracy is young. The communist regime fell in 1989, and many Romanians retain personal or family memories of a state where secret information, unquestionable authority, and political exclusion were tools of control," the article signed by the non-existent Dennis Portman states, quoted extensively by the Romanian publication "Gândul", even though the article was deleted from the Newsweek USA website, with the editor announcing its publication was an error.
The article published by Newsweek is a narrative aimed primarily at the American administration and only then at the Kremlin's influence networks in Romania.
It was created for pro-Russians who gravitate around Donald Trump, so they can use it to maintain frozen relations between the White House and our country.
Its appearance should be linked to the visit of Marius Lazurcă, the president's advisor, and Gheorghiță Vlad, the Chief of Staff, who most likely found an open door in Washington, managing to reactivate certain political figures in favor of our country.
I wrote extensively about this visit a few days ago, and the article can be read here.
An Unfulfilled Promise Turned into a Weapon
The fact that national security institutions and agencies fail to secure the effects of such a visit once again shows the vulnerability of Romania's defense system.
If a significant diplomatic initiative can be compromised, it becomes easy to understand how complicated and how far we are from publishing an official report on the 2024 presidential elections. And this vulnerability of the Romanian president, who promised the document but fails to obtain it, is being used today against him to undermine any attempt to rebuild ties with the White House.
Russia's interest is to keep Calin Georgescu, a product of Romanian-Soviet collaboration, in the public eye at all costs. It doesn't matter that he won't be able to run, it doesn't matter that a large part of Romanians no longer take him seriously. The most important thing for the Kremlin is that, through him, as long as there is no clarity about what happened in 2024, Putin has a strong argument that Romania is not a democratic country, therefore, neither is the European Union.
But Calin Georgescu, after being promoted by pro-Russian bloggers in the US, is now also used to block some of the American military initiatives on NATO's eastern flank.
"Romania is not a democracy. Romania cancels elections. So, how can the US invest here? It goes against the American liberal doctrine," claim representatives of Russian influence networks here and overseas.
Russia's Assault
The article appeared in Newsweek USA, using a PR agency system operating in the American market.
Representatives of these agencies can purchase a number of articles from certain publications, including Newsweek, through which they deliver articles that serve their clients' interests. These articles are located outside the editorial space. For example: editor letters published in the correspondence section; opinion articles by external authors; advertorials, marked or unmarked as such.
Viralspikeusa.com, a marketing agency, has an online tutorial presenting potential clients the method of publishing articles in various US publications through the company.
"I can't comment much on the mix-up with the 'op-ed' about Georgescu, a text with an unidentified author, published and then deleted by the parent Newsweek. It was a mistake. And any editorial office in the world can make a mistake from time to time," explained Sabin Orcan, the publisher of Newsweek Romania, in a Facebook post.
"I can only assure you that the article was not deleted at the behest of Hotnews (that seemed the funniest thing to me!) nor due to pressure from the CIA, SRI, SIE, the 'parallel state,' or the lobbying firm paid by the Romanian Presidency. The article was deleted after I drew the attention of my colleagues overseas to it!" Sabin Orcan emphasized.
If an entity has access to financial resources, there are hundreds of ways to publish articles in the international press. But the important thing in this case is to highlight that there is a significant effort by Russia to destroy the relationship between the US and Romania.
Russia's hostile actions on all fronts, from military provocations to sabotage and deceitful propaganda, continue with the same intensity or even greater.
The public perception is that very little has changed after the political disaster in 2024, and national security institutions and agencies still face challenges in the face of Moscow's assault.