Zakharova urged Romania to take back what it said about Russian interference in the election

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has demanded explanations and apologies from Bucharest after accusing the Russian side of interfering in the Romanian presidential election. She told RIA Novosti on December 21.

"It's fantastic, but I think, actually, it should have been necessary for the Romanian authorities to somehow officially declare it. <...> But it seems to me that still Bucharest should have explained itself. And, among other things, given that so much dirt has once again been poured on our country, it should also take back its words," Zakharova's comment was quoted by the agency.

According to her, the accusations against Moscow were voiced at the official level.

"Be kind enough to take back your words. We should finally learn to tell the truth," Zakharova added.

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Earlier, on December 4, Romania's Security Council said that the country was subjected to hybrid attacks by Russian cybercriminals during the elections. In total, more than 85 thousand cyberattacks were identified, aimed at exploiting system vulnerabilities.

The first round of the Romanian presidential election took place on November 24. According to official data, independent candidate Calin Georgescu was leading with 22.94% of the vote. The leader of the opposition party "Union for the Salvation of Romania" Elena Lasconi has 19.17% of the votes. George Simion came fourth with 14.17% of the vote. The second round was to be held on December 8, as none of the candidates could get more than 50%.

On November 28, the Romanian CC demanded that the Central Election Commission (CEC) recalculate the results of the first round. On November 29, the head of the Romanian CEC Tony Grebla said that if the Constitutional Court overturns the results of the first round, it may be held again on December 15. In this case, the second round of elections will have to be held on December 29. On December 12, the Supreme Court of Cassation of Romania rejected the appeal of the leader of the far-right party "Alliance for the Unification of Romanians" (AUR), MP George Simion against the decision of the Constitutional Court to annul the results of the first round of the presidential election.

On December 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin ridiculed the recount of votes in the Romanian elections. According to him, the authorities decided to take such a step only because they did not like the candidate who won the first round.