Romanian presidential candidate from the far-right party “Alliance for the Unification of Romanians“ (AUR) Gheorghe Simion said that “Russia is the biggest threat to us as a people“ and stressed that he has never refrained from calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”, the news website Ziare reports, BTA reports.
Simion claims that he has been publicly criticizing the Russian Federation since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. In his words, this action has “trampled upon countless international agreements“.
“Russia is responsible for the aggressive war in Ukraine“, the AUR leader emphasized in an interview with Europa FM radio, commenting on the pro-Russian views of former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, whose voters Simion is now targeting.
“Since December 2022, I have been stating that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal“, he added.
Simion announced his candidacy for the presidential elections after the Constitutional Court finally rejected the candidacy of the independent Georgescu, until then supported by AUR and the nationalist “Young People's Party“ (POT).
Asked how he could take the presidency after being declared persona non grata in Moldova and Ukraine, Simion replied that this was due to his support for the unification of Romania and Moldova.
“They banned me from entering because of my unionist discourse - because of my peaceful struggle for the rapprochement of the two banks of the Prut River,“ he said.
Simion is indicated by some sociological surveys as the favorite for the first round of the presidential elections, which will be held in May. According to the newspaper Journalul, he is banned from entering Moldova and Ukraine until 2028 and 2029, respectively, because of actions considered by both countries as a threat to their territorial integrity and sovereignty.