Pavel Durov, co-founder of the popular messenger Telegram, has expressed his willingness to testify in court regarding possible foreign interference in the presidential elections in Romania. He shared this information on the social network X, responding to a statement by George Simion, leader of the far-right AUR party, who is challenging the results of the second round of elections in the Constitutional Court.
Durov emphasized: “I am ready to come and testify if it helps Romanian democracy.”
The situation unfolded after Simion announced his intention to appeal to the Constitutional Court to annul the election results. He claims that the grounds for the challenge are similar to those that led to the annulment of the presidential election results last December.
The politician also accused foreign states and non-governmental entities of interference, hinting at France and Moldova, and stated that he has relevant evidence.
Earlier, Durov reported that one Western European country had asked Telegram to restrict access to conservative political channels in Romania ahead of the elections.
In response, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs called these accusations unfounded, and French intelligence denied Durov’s claims.
A spokesperson for the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in turn, spoke of possible signs of Russian interference in the elections, as well as a “viral campaign” spreading fake news on Telegram and other platforms.
Regarding the presidential elections, in December last year, the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled the results of the November elections. At that time, the pro-Russian candidate Călin Georgescu won the first round, but the country’s security services suspected interference from Russia, which led to his disqualification from the elections.
The first round of the early presidential elections took place on May 4, 2025. The second round featured far-right candidate George Simion, who received 40.96% of the votes, and independent candidate Nicușor Dan, the mayor of Bucharest, with 20.99% of the votes.
The second round of elections was held on May 18, where Nicușor Dan won with over 54% of the votes, while Simion received over 46%.
