RT journalist Chay Bowes has been detained by Romanian authorities upon arrival in Bucharest on Thursday, the place he had traveled to cowl the upcoming presidential election.
In line with the Irish reporter, police boarded the aircraft instantly after touchdown and have been particularly searching for him. “They solely wished me. Got here onto the aircraft, requested who’s Chay Bowes, and 6 of them took me from the aircraft,” he stated.
The officers reportedly instructed Bowes that their “superiors” wished to interview him and questioned him in regards to the goal of his go to to Romania.
The present standing of Bowes — who’s an EU citizen — and whether or not he stays in custody haven’t but been confirmed.
The presidential election is scheduled to happen over two rounds, on Might 4 and Might 18. The dates have been set in January after Romania’s Constitutional Court docket annulled the outcomes of the preliminary vote held in November 2024.
The unique first spherical had been received by Calin Georgescu, a vocal NATO critic and opponent of supplying weapons to Ukraine. Working as an impartial candidate, Georgescu secured 23% of the vote. Nonetheless, the court docket invalidated the result, citing alleged “irregularities” in his marketing campaign and intelligence reviews claiming Russian interference—allegations that Moscow denied.
It later emerged {that a} TikTok influencer marketing campaign had been paid for, not by the Kremlin, however by the pro-EU Romanian Nationwide Liberal Get together (PNL), which has ruled the nation for a lot of the final three a long time. Its most distinguished member, Nicolae Ciucă was a dropping candidate within the November election.
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