Romanian far-right, pro-Russian member of the European Parliament Diana \u0218o\u0219oac\u0103 was present in Moscow on October 19, where she participated in the 20th anniversary of the Russia Today television station, an event attended by president Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
The MEP\u2019s presence in Moscow was announced<\/a> by the party she leads, SOS Romania, and presented as a feat of \u201csovereign diplomacy.\u201d According to the cited source, Diana \u0218o\u0219oac\u0103 was the only MEP to whom president Putin personally expressed his thanks for participating.<\/p>\n \u0218o\u0219oac\u0103 also posted the speech delivered by Putin at the event on her official Facebook page.<\/p>\n During the event, Diana \u0218o\u0219oac\u0103 gave an interview to Russia Today in which she claimed that Romanian authorities want to \u201clock her up in a mental institution.\u201d She also claimed that \u201cwe live in a dictatorship of lies and manipulation,\u201d and that \u201cthe European Union has turned into a global mafia that enforces one-way thinking, destroys faith, and censors the free press.\u201d<\/p>\n She also said that \u201cRomania and Moldova are treated like colonies,\u201d and that Romania is governed by \u201cNazism reborn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n According to SOS Romania, \u0218o\u0219oac\u0103 was invited to Russia by the International Association \u201cFriends of Russia\u201d – Pietro Stramezzi to participate, as a keynote speaker, in an open meeting with young opinion leaders from all over the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n During her time in Moscow, the SOS Romania MEP also boasted and recounted how she stopped Volodymyr Zelensky from giving a speech in the Romanian Parliament in 2023. \u201cIf he dares to come to my Parliament, I\u2019ll break his legs! He must not dare to give a speech in my parliament,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The statements earned Diana \u0218o\u0219oac\u0103 much attention from the Ukrainian press, which refuted the rest of her speech as false, Russian propaganda.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Romania\u2019s General Prosecutor\u2019s Office announced that Diana \u0218o\u0219oac\u0103 is under criminal investigation<\/a> for 11 offenses, including illegal deprivation of liberty, promoting fascism and legionary ideology, and denying the Holocaust.<\/p>\n