"We will never accept lessons on democracy from Moscow"

The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest, Andrei Tarnea, reacted on Friday to statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who claimed that the Romanian authorities had tried to ban political opponents and manipulate the will of the people.

The Romanian diplomat stressed that Russia is an aggressor state where the opposition is assassinated and where there is no independent press or freedom of expression.

"Russia interfered in electoral processes and tried to influence the elections in Romania, as it recently tried in the Republic of Moldova. It does so systematically. It failed because the citizens of these countries prefer other values ​​and perspectives. I have made it very clear previously that we will never accept lessons on democracy, elections or press freedom coming from Moscow. A country that is an aggressor of a sovereign neighbor, that is trying to annex its territories in a brutal war of conquest, that is committing war crimes, that is sending its citizens to their deaths by the hundreds of thousands, where the opposition is assassinated two steps away from the Kremlin and where there is no independent press or freedom of expression, is not in a position to teach lessons to anyone", said Andrei Tarnea.

Translated by: Radu Matei