George Simion is a fascinating character from the perspective of a journalist who follows and reports on political life. His actions, starting with the attempt to create tensions and violence between Romanians and Hungarians following the events of 2019 that took place in the International Cemetery of Heroes Valea Uzului, were perfectly aligned with the political objectives of the Kremlin.
After extensive research and discussions with several individuals familiar with the phenomenon, in my opinion, George Simion entered politics as a provocateur, created by the Romanian secret services to support national and pro-European movements in Moldova, but at some point, he was diverted, taken over by the Russian secret services.
Specifically, George Simion is the leader of the second-largest party in Romania in terms of votes won in elections, namely AUR, with a ban on entering the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
"Seeing what he is doing and the statements about skinning judges in public squares who rejected Georgescu's candidacy, I cannot help but remember that this man is banned in Moldova and Ukraine, suspected of being controlled by Moscow," former President Traian Băsescu declared.
Former officials from Moldova and Ukraine who had access to information as ministers or intelligence agency employees have repeatedly spoken about Simion's connections with Russian intelligence agents.
A mysterious validation of Simion's candidacy
In November 2024, two weeks before the first round of the presidential elections, then-chairman of the SRI Parliamentary Control Commission, Liberal Senator Ioan Chirteș, accused the AUR leader of ties with Russian intelligence services.
"...there are clear accusations and evidence that... George Simion met... with GRU officers and even tried to divert peaceful demonstrations, electoral support marches... We still do not know if George Simion tried to divert something..." the Liberal senator declared at that time.
Despite these well-known issues in the Romanian public opinion, the BEC validated his candidacy, with George Simion ranking fourth in the first round of the presidential elections, after Georgescu, Lasconi, and Ciolacu, obtaining 1.2 million votes.
Moreover, during that period, there was much talk about a strategy by the PSD to push Simion and Ciolacu into the final, and then the information about the "collaboration" of the AUR leader with Russian intelligence services was supposed to be made public to benefit the incumbent Prime Minister in terms of reaching the Cotroceni Palace.
However, things did not go as planned, as the first round of the presidential elections turned out to be a disaster for Marcel Ciolacu and the PSD, as is well known.
Simion's Chaotic Actions
Information provided by Romanian state officials about Simion's collaboration with Russian intelligence services continues to have effects.
This is evident from the behavior of the AUR president, who engages in a politically incomprehensible game for the public, signaling through all channels that he does not want to run for office, but has no choice.
How is it possible for the leader of the second-largest political force in Romania to support Călin Georgescu, a dubious, party-less candidate manufactured in Kremlin laboratories and launched as a bomb to destabilize the country, while Simion refuses to enter the race for the Cotroceni Palace as long as Georgescu's situation remains unclear?
Furthermore, following the BEC's decision to reject Călin Georgescu's candidacy, Simion threatens the judges and members of the institution with "skinning" in public squares, jeopardizing his possible candidacy being rejected on grounds of promoting hate speech.
This has led to the odd situation where extremist parties announce support for two candidates - Anamaria Gavrilă, POT, and Simion, AUR, with the clarification that in the event both are validated by the BEC, one of them will withdraw from the race, although they will remain on the ballot.
Georgescu's Promotion, Similar to Simion's
Due to many unanswered questions, George Simion is viewed with suspicion by a large part of the electorate; however, if he enters the race, he has a pathway to reach the presidential final.
But such a situation would create more problems for Romania, which could have a president suspected of ties with Russian intelligence services. This would happen after the Călin Georgescu scandal and the intense campaign conducted by Kremlin officials in his favor.
It should be noted that the way George Simion was promoted and thrust into the national political spotlight closely resembles the manner in which Călin Georgescu was promoted, with the only differences being the intensity of the social media campaigns.
In the summer of 2020, in the local elections, AUR obtained 119 mayoral positions, ranking 14th in the political hierarchy. In half a year, the extremist party became the fourth political force in Romania in the parliamentary elections, garnering over 9% of the votes.
There was much discussion at that time about possible foreign interference, especially on social media, but neither the president nor the government formed after the elections investigated the situation or took any action.
It should be noted that the parliamentary elections of 2020 took place during a pandemic, in an unprecedented health crisis, and the critical situation faced by the entire world encouraged the rise of extremist movements.
However, AUR's evolution as a political party raised many questions, with a series of proofs of social media manipulation being published, just like in the Georgescu case.
Simion's candidacy poses problems for Romania, and a victory for him would place Bucharest in a difficult position in relation to Moldova, Ukraine, and European partners.
The situation of the AUR leader once again shows that our country has been deeply infiltrated by representatives of Russia, and the lack of reaction from political leaders and institutions responsible for national security has weakened democracy and discredited the electoral process.