Eulogistic article featuring the Russian Ambassador to Bucharest in a local publication from Ialomita. Kuzmin, a Kremlin propagandist, launched a flurry of false claims and wasn’t bothered with a single question about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in thousands of civilian casualties

The regional newspaper Impact, based in Slobozia (Ialomita), published on 5 February a flattering article about the Russian Ambassador to Bucharest, Valery Kuzmin. The Russian diplomat, known as a fierce propagandist of the Putin regime, is quoted extensively with statements about relations with Romania and Moldova, without the journalists not asking him even a single critical question.

„A model of success in this respect is also the portrait of his Excellency Valery Kuzmin,” the article says, in which Kuzmin is not asked any questions about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which Russian occupation troops killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians.

Kuzmin’s statements are a collection of falsehoods, which the journalists do not question or debunk.

Thus, the Russian ambassador claims in the cited article that Romanians would not have an adversity towards the Russian Federation. However, repeated polls over the past year show that Romanians’ trust in Russia has plummeted. An Avangarde poll from October 2022 shows that Russia is last in the ranking of countries Romanians trust, with only 4%. In June, an Inscop poll showed that the majority of Romanians (71.2%) consider Russia guilty for the war in Ukraine, and 87.3% of Romanians believe Russian leaders should be condemned for war crimes.

Another falsehood propagated by Kuzmin is „the burning desire of Romanians on both sides of the Prut to be one country”, according to the article. However, a poll conducted in January 2023 in the Republic of Moldova shows that 52.2% of the population would vote against union with Romania, and only 36.2% would vote for union.

The grossest falsehood expressed by Ambassador Kuzmin is the phrase ‘Russia is for peace’, almost a year after the bloody invasion of Ukraine. The newspaper’s reporter does not ask a single question about the invasion, the war of conquest unleashed by Russia, the thousands of casualties left behind by the Russian military or the more than 8 million Ukrainian war refugees who have fled around the world.

The laudatory article ends with a message of blackmail from Kuzmin to Romanians, telling them that it is not in their interest for Russia to be Romania’s adversary: „I have a message for the Romanians. As a responsible person, I would like to tell Romanians that it is not in our interests to be adversaries. We are neighbours and there must be friendship between our peoples, as our ancestors told us, and only then everything will be fine”.

The regional newspaper Impact is based in Slobozia (Ialomița) and has regional coverage in Călărași and Giurgiu. It is published by Dan Press SRL, owned by Dănuț and Maricica Bîlbîie, according to the specialised portal Confidas.