An analysis of 4,741 public pages populating Romania’s Facebook universe has revealed that the rather limited influence of overt pro-Russian outlets in Romania has not discouraged the Kremlin from speculating local, like-minded individuals and organisations in promoting a divisive narrative targeting mainly our trans-Atlantic orientation and EU membership.

The Kremlin cost-freely taps into the euroscepticism displayed in Romania by ultra-conservative (and more recently, ultra-nationalist) Facebook channels, even though there is no apparent link between the two clusters.
As part of a regional project on “EXPOSING RUSSIAN INFORMATION OPERATIONS IN FRONTLINE STATES“, GlobalFocus Center has analysed the direct and indirect interconnections established among relevant public Romanian Facebook pages, and the presence and relevance of Russian/ Russian-backed Facebook pages within the Romanian Facebook ecosystem.
Our research conclusions are summarised in the attached document. The report also offers the opportunity for a comparison with the corresponding situation in Bulgaria, analysed by our partners, Center for the Study of Democracy.

The regional project is coordinated by Globsec (Bratislava) and the aim is to provide key stakeholders with in-depth contextual information about potential social media avenues of influence that the Kremlin might exploit when conducting information operations in Romania.