Diana Șoșoacă, the president of the far-right party SOS Romania and an MEP, addressed Russian president Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg Forum, claiming that Romanians love him and that they do not want to support Ukraine in the war.
Șoșoacă told the Russian dictator during the Q&A session of a panel that Romania is “governed by Brussels” and that the country is without a president.
“I would like to tell you that Romanians do not hate you. Romanians want peace with Russia. We do not want to help Ukraine. We do not want to give them money and weapons, but unfortunately, Romania is governed by Brussels,” Diana Șoșoacă said during her speech at the St. Petersburg Forum.
“We want to cooperate with Russia. We are not enemies,” emphasized the SOS Romania leader. “You are the largest country in the world. You are one of the largest economies. We admire your strength, and we admire the entire Russian people. This is a lesson for the European Union. I hope that very soon we will no longer have Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission.”
For his part, Vladimir Putin said that he did not wish to comment on Romania’s internal affairs, but asked Diana Șoșoacă to convey warm greetings to all Orthodox Christians in the country.
“To be honest, I cannot and, to be honest, I do not want to comment on Romania’s internal affairs. Romania is an Orthodox country, so I ask you to convey my warmest greetings and best wishes to all Orthodox Christians in Romania,” Putin said.
Selfies and convicts
During her time in Russia, the self-proclaimed patriotic Diana Șoșoacă also took a selfie with Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova and posted the photo on Facebook. A week ago, Zaharova threatened Romania with retaliation after the Romanian government expelled the Russian consul in Constanta following the crash of a Russian drone into a residential building in Galați.
Șoșoacă was especially active on social media during the event in Russia. She appeared alongside Marina Tauber, the former vice-president of the dissolved Șor Party in the Republic of Moldova, who has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and is internationally wanted. At the same time, fugitive oligarch Ilan Șor, sentenced to 15 years in prison in the Republic of Moldova and currently residing in the Russian Federation, published photographs in which he appears in cordial poses with Romanian MEP Diana Șoșoacă, whom he presents as the “future president of free Romania.”
Also present in St. Petersburg were former Moldovan president Igor Dodon, former prime minister Vasile Tarlev, Russia’s accredited ambassador to Moldova Oleg Ozerov, and Victoria Furtună, leader of the “Greater Moldova” party, all considered pro-Russian figures. So was Errol Musk, father of Elon Musk.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry’s reaction
The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to Diana Șoșoacă’s presence and messaging from Russia.
“No European country participated in the festival of Russian supporters in St. Petersburg. The EU and member states represent values incompatible with economic oligarchy and state capture or with regimes that wage illegal wars of conquest against sovereign neighbors,” wrote Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Andrei Țărnea on X on Sunday, June 7.
“The aggressor’s loneliness cannot be hidden by guests who do not speak in the name of their country. In reality, the effect is the opposite of what was intended, with the forum becoming a textbook example of deceptive propaganda,” he added.
The Foreign Ministry representative described the few European citizens present at the gathering as “embarrassing exceptions.”
The St. Petersburg Economic Forum was also attended by US right-wing podcaster Candace Owens. At the same time, Andrew and Tristan Tate, dual UK-US citizens investigated in Romania for several offenses, were in Moscow drinking cocktails.
(Photo source: Diana Sosoaca on Facebook video capture)
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