Center-right politician Ciprian Ciucu will be Bucharest’s new mayor after defeating a far-right candidate in Sunday elections. Ciucu, the candidate of the center-right National Liberal Party and a close ally of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, won roughly 36 percent of the vote. Ciucu defeated Anca Alexandrescu, a TV presenter backed by Romania’s largest far-right party (AUR), who finished second with about 22 percent. The Social Democratic Party’s candidate Daniel Băluță came third, despite being projected to win in many opinion polls. Ciucu’s victory could help ease the pressure on Bolojan, who has been trying to pass unpopular austerity measures — including higher taxes and cutting public sector jobs — to reduce a budget deficit that has reached 9 percent of GDP. Opposition parties have filed a no-confidence motion in Bolojan over plans to reform the pension system, which will take place on Dec. 15. “Beyond this victory, it’s probably a good thing that this coalition will continue. The government has promised reforms, and it’s time to implement them,” Ciucu said on Sunday. “From my political position, I will help ensure these reforms are carried out,” he added. Bucharest was previously led by independent liberal Nicușor Dan, who left the role to become Romanian president in May. Romania’s politics was thrown into chaos after an ultranationalist TikTok candidate came out of obscurity to win the first round of the presidential race in November 2024. The election was ultimately cancelled on suspicion of Russian interference, with a court ordering a do-over.

Romania’s Defense Minister Ionuț Moșteanu resigned Friday over false claims on his resume, marking the second time in recent weeks that a NATO country close to Russia has had to change its defense leadership. “Romania and Europe are under attack from Russia. Our national security must be defended at all costs. I do not want discussions about my education and the mistakes I made many years ago to distract those who are now leading the country from their difficult mission,” he said. According to local media, Moșteanu wrote in his official resume that he graduated from Athenaeum University in Bucharest even though he never attended the school. He also added the Faculty of Automation at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest to his CV despite dropping out. Moșteanu’s resignation just months into the job follows the ousting of Dovilė Šakalienė as Lithuania’s defense minister over a dispute about the Baltic country’s defense budget — and as Europe mulls how to respond to intensifying Russian hybrid attacks. Romania’s Economy Minister Radu Miruță is expected to take over the defense portfolio on an interim basis, the government said. Moșteanu’s departure comes with Romania facing regular Russian drone incursions. Bucharest is also 48 hours away from a deadline for EU countries to submit a plan to the European Commission for how they will spend money from the EU’s loans-for-weapons SAFE program. Romania is set to be the second-largest beneficiary of the scheme, in line for a €16.6 billion pot of cash.

Romanian authorities took mercenary leader Horațiu Potra into custody Thursday on charges of attempting to subvert the constitutional order, following allegations he had helped plan a violent coup during last December’s fraught election period. Potra was extradited from Dubai, where he had been detained since Sept. 24 alongside his son Dorian and grandson amid an investigation of a plot to use force to install former ultranationalist presidential candidate Călin Georgescu in power. “Romanian citizens Horațiu Potra, Alexandru Cosmin Potra and Dorian Potra have been brought onto national territory following the successful completion of the extradition procedure,” the Ministry of Justice said in a statement. Prosecutors formally charged Georgescu, Horațiu and Dorian and a group of alleged mercenaries on Sept. 16, accusing them of having planned to hijack a protest supporting Georgescu after the December 2024 cancellation of the first round of the presidential election. The official stated the armed group had intended to provoke large-scale violence, which in turn would have justified overthrowing Romania’s constitutional order and transferring political power by force. Georgescu, a NATO skeptic, had won the first round of the election in November 2024, but the Constitutional Court later annulled the contest over alleged irregularities and concerns of foreign interference. He was later barred from the May rerun amid further allegations of Russian involvement. Horațiu Potra, 55, a dual Romanian-French national, spent five years in the French Foreign Legion, an elite military unit of the French army. He later served as a bodyguard to Qatar’s royal family before spending nearly three decades in Africa as a private security operative for political leaders and business figures. He met Georgescu at a horse ranch last December, after Georgescu asked him for “support” in the upcoming presidential election. According to prosecutors, Georgescu and Potra met on Dec. 7, 2024, a day after the court annulled the election, to finalize their plans for the violent coup. On Dec. 8, Potra was arrested en route to Bucharest in a five-car convoy allegedly transporting armed men who intended to incite riots. Georgescu and Potra have dismissed the allegations against them, while their supporters see the charges as politically motivated. “Better to break the law and live than to obey the law and die,” Potra said in an interview with the Georgescu-friendly TV channel Realitatea Plus after he was indicted. 

Romanian authorities confirmed to POLITICO on Wednesday that mercenary Horațiu Potra and his son Dorian Potra have been detained in Dubai. The two, along with ultranationalist presidential candidate Călin Georgescu and a group of alleged mercenaries, face trial charged with an attempted coup late last year. During a December 2024 police operation, Romanian officers intercepted 21 individuals, some armed with knives and guns, en route to Bucharest. On Sept. 16, Romanian prosecutors charged Georgescu, Potra, his son and other mercenaries with orchestrating a violent coup. According to Romanian prosecutors, Potra, Georgescu and their associates had allegedly planned to hijack a protest in support of the former presidential candidate and generate violence amid the cancellation of the first round of the presidential election. Officials stated that the armed group sought to provoke clashes and carry out “violent actions of a subversive nature,” threatening national security and the “constitutional order.” Georgescu, a NATO skeptic, won the first round of Romania’s November presidential election — with the election subsequently canceled due to alleged irregularities and concerns over foreign interference. He was later disqualified from the May rerun amid further allegations of Russian involvement. Romanian officials also warned that Moscow conducted extensive hybrid operations, including cyberattacks and disinformation, aimed at disrupting the 2024 election.

Romanian prosecutors on Tuesday charged Călin Georgescu — who rose from obscurity to win the first round of a presidential election before being barred from running — with planning a violent coup. The charges stem from a dramatic police operation in December 2024, when officers intercepted 21 people, some armed with knives and guns, heading to Bucharest. Romanian prosecutors said in a press release that the armed group was planning to instigate clashes and carry out “violent actions of a subversive nature”, and endanger national security and the “constitutional order.” Georgescu was not named in the press release but has been identified by Romanian media as one of the plotters of the coup along with Horaţiu Potra, the leader of a paramilitary group. The press release refers to him as a “former presidential candidate.” Prosecutors said Georgescu and Potra met on Dec. 7 to mastermind the coup after the Constitutional Court on Dec. 6 annulled the first round of November’s presidential election, which Georgescu won, due to an alleged Russian influence operation. Georgescu, a far-right firebrand and NATO skeptic, was later disqualified from running in the do-over May election. The court decisions threw Romania into political chaos, with thousands taking to the streets across the country. According to the prosecutors, Georgescu aimed to exploit the ensuing “maximum social tension” to generate further unrest and “change the constitutional order or to make it more difficult or prevent the exercise of state power.” All 21 participants in the alleged coup attempt, who are members of Potra’s paramilitary group, will face trial. Potra’s whereabouts are unknown but Romanian authorities believe he is seeking asylum in Russia, Romania’s Prosecutor General Alex Florenta said at a press conference on Tuesday. Florenta added Romania was “was the favorite target of extensive, hybrid campaigns” by Moscow, including cyberattacks and disinformation, to disrupt the 2024 election.

On Dec. 25, 1989, then-Romanian President Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena were executed by firing squad while singing “The Internationale,” the communist anthem. The dictator and his wife had ruled with an iron fist for decades. But amid a dramatic decline in living standards, Romanians had grown fed up. They were hopeful that this institutional collapse would mark the beginning of a democratic revolution — and the man at the helm of that transition was Ion Iliescu. Romania’s first democratic leader, Iliescu — who died on Aug. 5 at the age of 95 — was one of the last of the top communist apparatchiks left from the dissolution of the Soviet bloc. But while he shaped the country’s transition toward democracy, memories of a bloody transfer of power and his brutal suppression of protests in 1990 —for which he was charged with crimes against humanity — leave a complex and divisive legacy. Born to a working-class family, Iliescu was deeply attached to his father — an underground communist who died when his son was just 15. Enrolling in the Communist Youth, he embraced revolutionary ideals with unconditional admiration for the USSR and Joseph Stalin. He grew to be a firm believer in Bolshevik utopian promises, which he considered best for his country. In the early 1950s, Iliescu’s dreams became reality when — like hundreds of other Romanians — he was sent to study in the Soviet Union. While in Moscow, he internalized Bolshevism, regarding the socialist camp as the guarantor of peace and progress in an irreconcilably polarized world. It was here that he experienced the shock of Stalin’s death. It was also here that he met his future wife Nina, later reminiscing about their evening strolls across the city. During this time, the leaders of the Romanian Communist Party came to see Iliescu as a trustworthy young comrade, and appointed him to the top echelon of the Communist Youth, responsible for political work and mobilization among students. These were the years of the post-Stalin thaw, which affected all Eastern European countries, but Romania didn’t experience turbulence comparable to Poland or Hungary. And despite getting his hands on a smuggled copy of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech,” which strongly condemned Stalin’s regime, Iliescu didn’t renounce his conviction that the party should keep its complete hold on power. Despite his smiling face and smooth speech, Iliescu was an adamant Leninist. And between 1958 and 1959, he participated in anti-student repression that resulted in arrests, torture and imprisonments. His rise to prominence was later accelerated when Ceaușescu became Romania’s new strongman in March 1965. He was appointed the Minister of Youth in 1967, and was promoted to the party secretariat and to executive committee in 1970. But this fast ascent eventually slowed. He was seen as too intellectual, too reformist and was sidelined to the provinces instead. In the late 1980s, however, things began to shift. While Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pursued reformist policies, Ceaușescu tried to block any contagion. He had become an obsolete leftover of the Stalinist era, and Romanians grew weary of the insane cult of personality surrounding him and his wife. As his dictatorship grew increasingly erratic, many in the bureaucracy considered Iliescu as a possible alternative to “dynastic Communism.” In December 1989, popular uprisings erupted across the country, first in the western city of Timișoara, then in Bucharest. But this was not a velvet revolution. Amid a military crackdown, the army and secret police forces shot dozens of anti-regime protesters over the following days. And on Dec. 22, Iliescu addressed the crowds on television, announcing the formation of the National Salvation Front. After the Ceaușescus were captured, tried and executed a few days later, Romanians were convinced this was the beginning of a democratic revolution. But in fact, it was the combination of a spontaneous popular revolt and an intraparty putsch — and Iliescu was the beneficiary of both. Despite his smiling face and smooth speech, Iliescu was an adamant Leninist. | Jacques Langevin/Sygma via Getty Images Iliescu initially played the benevolent, open-minded liberalizer. But he also made sure that merging pluralist forces — including democratic parties and civil society associations — wouldn’t be allowed to challenge the bureaucracy’s domination. His response to the anticommunist opposition was neurotic, panicked and intolerant. Then, in June 1990, after his party won the country’s first democratic elections, he used forces outside the law to destroy growing dissent, mobilizing Jiu Valley coalminers to violently suppress anti-government protests. Romania again became a pariah on the international stage. And while Iliescu tried to erase the memory of those terrible events — both the violent chaos surrounding Ceaușescu’s ouster and the brutal crackdown against civilians that followed — they would forever mark his career. After losing the presidency in 1995, Iliescu finally recognized democratic governance and took charge of the parliamentary opposition. He was again elected in 2000, his second presidential term largely seen as one of Western integration. In 2003, Romania entered NATO, and he played a significant role in the country’s EU accession, which was finalized in 2007. After his second term concluded in 2004, Iliescu withdrew from politics. He spent most of his time reading and writing, and would make statements on special occasions, intermittently trying to revamp his image. One such occasion was a three-day dialogue in August 2003 with Vladimir Tismăneanu — a coauthor of this piece. During discussions, Iliescu admitted to making a few “mistakes,” though he expressed very few regrets. He maintained that in 1990, there was no way to avoid the use of violence against civilians. But when asked how he assessed the balance sheet of communism in the 20th century, he surprisingly replied: “Globally negative.” It was one of the few moments the Romanian leader seemed to publicly realize that all his life he had served a chimera. Upon news of Iliescu’s death, newly elected Romanian President Nicușor Dan offered his condolences, along with a message about Romania’s first democratically elected president: “History will judge Ion Iliescu, the central figure of the transition of the 1990s. It is our obligation to clarify the great issues of the era, in order to move forward responsibly.” Dan’s statement highlights how Romanians are split regarding Iliescu’s legacy. For better or worse, he influenced their history and changed their lives. But one thing is certain: In 1990, there was no real imperative that compelled him to organize such devastating attacks against unarmed civilians. And while the Romanian government has declared Aug. 7 a day of mourning, the trauma of Iliescu’s rule remains. The wounds are still open. Vladimir Tismăneanu is a professor of politics at the University of Maryland. In 2006, he chaired the Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania. Adam Tismăneanu  is a freelance writer, analyst and independent researcher. They’re currently co-authoring a biography of Nicolae Ceaușescu to be published in 2026.

Former Romanian presidential candidate Călin Georgescu was indicted on Wednesday for endorsing fascist propaganda, according to a press release from a prosecution office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. Prosecutors allege that between June 16, 2020 and May 16, 2025, Georgescu repeatedly endorsed fascist ideas through a series of interviews, online posts and public speeches. He is also accused of glorifying extremist historical figures such as Marshal Ion Antonescu — the leader of Romania’s World War II fascist government and a convicted war criminal — and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder of Romania’s interwar Iron Guard, a fascist paramilitary group. If convicted, Georgescu faces between three months and three years in prison, or possibly longer due to the continuous nature of the alleged offenses. The case, filed with the Sector 1 Court in Bucharest, addresses only the charge of “legionary propaganda” related to Romania’s National Legionary State, which ruled the country for five months from 1940 to 1941. But Georgescu remains under investigation for other serious offenses including allegedly attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. A hard-line ultranationalist and a vocal opponent of the EU and NATO, Georgescu surged to prominence during Romania’s November 2024 presidential election in which he won 22.9 percent of the vote in the first round. The country’s Constitutional Court later annulled the results, citing credible evidence of foreign interference — including alleged Russian-backed influence operations and a coordinated disinformation campaign on TikTok. The election was subsequently rescheduled for May but Georgescu was barred from running again and announced he was stepping away from politics.

Mark Gitenstein (ret, 2009-2012), Adrian Zuckerman (ret, 2019-2021) and Jim Rosapepe (ret, 1998-2001) are all former U.S. ambassadors to Romania. We all know Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine with tanks in 2022. But many don’t know that in 2024, he invaded Romania — with tweets. In both cases he failed — for now. But Putin’s aggression is focused on the U.S. and all its allies. He’s spending millions of dollars, bombarding European voters with manipulative social media and disinformation campaigns on a mass scale. It’s a new type of warfare on democracy that eliminates the need to roll tanks into capitals. Putin’s constantly evolving playbook is the result of his failed military campaign to capture Kyiv and strangle Ukrainian democracy. He ran into Ukraine’s indominable resilience, and as a result, he began deploying a long-standing Russian (and Soviet) strategy to destroy Western democracies from within by supporting and cultivating pro-Putin political candidates. And TikTok, Telegram and other social media channels are now weapons in this new kind of war. Never far from his KGB roots, the Russian president realizes public opinion can be manipulated and shaped by political proxies and propaganda beholden to Russia’s strongman. One only need examine Romania’s recent election to confirm this sinister truth. Back in 2024, Putin spent millions to elect a pro-Russian president in Romania. His method: infiltrate elections, support authoritarian-leaning candidates and manipulate digital platforms to bend public perception. So, the Russian leader boosted candidate Călin Georgescu from obscurity, and in just two weeks, Georgescu had captured 21 percent of the vote, leaving a divided field of 15 candidates stunned. Violating common sense, reality, as well as Romanian law, Georgescu claimed he neither raised campaign contributions nor incurred campaign expenses. Instead, he had a malevolent benefactor in Putin. The social media blitzkrieg consisted of “misinformation” and a multimillion dollar Leninist-style effort to destroy democracy in Romania. The effort’s design also included undermining U.S., NATO and EU security interests. And it was just in time that this stealth invasion of Romania’s electoral process was uncovered by Romanian and other Western intelligence services. Citing serious violations of electoral law and foreign interference, the country’s constitutional court annulled the first round of the election and ordered a do-over. When the second round was held, voter turnout surged past the average 51 percent to nearly 65 percent, as Romanians responded to the crisis with clarity and courage. They rejected Putin’s candidate and chose the democratic, pro-NATO path by a decisive 54 percent to 46 percent margin. Together with a bipartisan group of seven former U.S. ambassadors to Romania, we had publicly urged Romanians to reject Putin’s candidate. We couldn’t silently stand by and allow the patently false Russia-driven propaganda to go unchallenged. “We saw first-hand Romania’s successful climb from Russian imposed dictatorship to freedom, and integration with the rest of Europe in the EU and alliance with the U.S. through NATO,” we wrote in an open letter. While Putin’s efforts in Romania eventually miserably failed, but real damage could have been done. | Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images We recognized the opportunity to accurately frame the historic choice Romanians were going to have to make at the polls, and we made the stakes clear: “Under Putin, Russia is again on the march. First invading Ukraine. Will Romania be its next target as it was Stalin’s? . . . Romanians face a clear historic choice: domination by Russia or your own future allied with America in NATO.” While Putin’s efforts in Romania eventually miserably failed, but real damage could have been done. Fortunately, the country’s democratic institutions and voices refused to be cowed by his latest tactics. And we now encourage others to raise their voices to counter Putin’s attempts to decapitate democracy at the ballot box. Romanians rightly took responsibility for their own future — and they chose freedom and prosperity over Putinism. After Nicusor Dan’s victory in the presidential race, U.S. President Donald Trump reassured Romanians that he would “strengthen our ties with Romania, support our military partnership, and promote and defend America’s economic and security interests abroad.” Unfortunately, too many people who should know better are still cozying up to Putin, backing his pro-Russian candidates and undermining the security of the U.S. and other democratic allies. Elon Musk protégé Mario Nawfal was in Moscow in May, while tech billionaire Elon Musk’s father and controversial American right-wing commentators Jackson Hinkle and Alex Jones attended the Future 2050 forum in Moscow in June. Speaking at the forum were numerous Putin allies: right-wing Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and former president Dmitry Medvedev. The Romanian battle was won, but Putin’s war on democracy continues. Who’s next on his list? This fall’s elections in Moldova, Estonia, Georgia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and other European nations are all ripe for interference. But before his propaganda can take hold, it’s imperative to crack down on his violations of election laws. The fight for democracy now extends to cyberspace, where Putin’s invasion tactics must be thwarted, just as they’ve been on the battlefield. The new battlefield is online, and the stakes are democratic sovereignty. The lesson from Romania is clear: The best defense against propaganda is truth — and the courage to speak it.