Former NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană officially submitted his candidacy for the Romanian presidency and made several statements and accusations regarding the journalistic investigation into the connections of one of his campaign coordinators, former mayor Rareş Mănescu, with a Russian businessman, a Moscow propagandist.
In short: Mănescu is a business partner with a Russian propagandist who has been to Crimea at least 10 times after the illegal annexation in 2014. Journalists from The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project network, which includes Context.ro, reported that Rareş Mănescu set up a company with Russian businessman Aleksei Kozlov while managing Geoană’s campaign when he was still NATO’s deputy. The journalistic investigation reveals a series of ramifications that even lead to a mercenary who fought in Donbas on the Russian side. Kozlov also has a secret identity through which he promoted Russia, according to journalists.
Here are Geoană's comments today, as reported by News.ro:
- so-called international journalistic investigation under the auspices and funding of oligarch Hodorkovski and initiated by a so-called investigative journalist, Attila Biro, accused in the press in Bulgaria and other European countries of being part of an operation attempting to assassinate the Bulgarian Prosecutor General.
- This type of kompromat generated and orchestrated from Moscow is a disinformation operation that is part of the hybrid warfare arsenal that the Russian Federation unleashes against Western democracies.
- Today I had contact with the Alex Navalny Foundation, explaining the situation to them, because you have noticed that the international press is abuzz with the fact that Mr. Hodorkovski is accused by Navalny's Foundation members of actually having his henchmen intimidate and try to eliminate opponents in Russia.
- This is the FSB operating manual.
- For me, this subject represents a red line in terms of how here, in Romania, we know how to discern between compromise, defamation, external and internal media lynching operations, and what constitutes democratic play and an electoral campaign. It is a red line against the impermissible interference of a foreign power in the democracy of my country.
- I have officially appealed to the specialized Romanian state institutions and to allied structures dealing with these issues to investigate, down to the last detail, this compromising operation against a former NATO official and a candidate and potential president of Romania.
- I will not give up, and after we win this campaign, I will publicly present all the ins and outs of this operation because at some point, we must expose how Russia and their accomplices in Romania operate.
- There is a systematic, programmatic media lynching campaign against me, publicly funded, financed by parties in this country.
- I will publicly present what the funding mechanism from the parties for a premeditated defamation campaign involves, usually carried out incidentally, on television stations under the auspices of Romanian oligarchs in exile in Belgrade under Russian protection or by Mr. Şor in Chişinău.
- Regarding Mr. Rareş Mănescu and his so-called relationship with his so-called campaign: I met Mrs. Ramona Mănescu and Mr. Rareş Mănescu socially in Brussels. I remind you that Mrs. Mănescu is a former Foreign Minister of Romania and former Member of the European Parliament. In this capacity, I had contact, as I had contacts with dozens of MEPs and all representatives of Romania in the EU and NATO.
- Mr. Mănescu did indeed have an episodic relationship with the Romania Renasterea Movement, from which he was asked to leave after a certain period, while I was at NATO and in no way during a so-called organized campaign in Bucharest.
- Mr. Mănescu's relationship with so-called real or imaginary businessmen is his issue, and if there is anything untoward in his relationship with someone from Russia, it is the duty of the Romanian state, and I will ensure that we are certain that if there is anything untoward, I will be the first to act in this direction.
- A person with my stature, my CV, my competence, my international relationships obviously bothers Moscow.
- How would you like to have, in a country as important as Romania, a president who has been the head of NATO? This is the Kremlin's main motivation.
- There is also an internal motivation because the first independent candidate with a chance to win the presidency of Romania, myself and our team, disturb the interests of these parties. They have money, influence, buy the press, poison public opinion, and I tell you today that I am more determined and more resolute than ever to win these elections because it will not be the victory of Mircea Geoană and my team, it will be the victory of Romanian democracy.