Why does a Romanian deputy want to annex Ukrainian territories and publicly support the Russian Federation?

Diana Șoșoacă, a member of the Romanian Senate, known for her scandalous anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian statements, often finds herself in the columns of both Romanian and Ukrainian newspapers and becomes the hero of propaganda materials of the Russian mass media.

 

Who is Diana Șoșoacă?

The Ukrainian Review managed to talk to Sergiu Mișcoiu, Romanian researcher and Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, and asked several questions about the political activity of Diana Șoșoacă.

He said that her popularity began to grow rapidly due to the anti-vaccination campaign during the pandemic. However, after the topic of the pandemic and anti-vaccination ceased to be relevant, the combination of Orthodoxy and nationalism became logical for Diana Șoșoacă. Therefore, she began to act as an ardent defender of the Romanian Orthodox Church and traditional values. Regarding her political career, our interlocutor gave her the following description:

«She’s the most flamboyant former member of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians [right-wing populist and nationalist political party — ed.]. But some jurists say that she was not really allowed to be a candidate for this party as she did not regularly belong to the party as a member. (…) Now, after getting in conflict with the leadership of AUR [Alliance for the Union of Romanians — ed.], she was excluded from the Senate».

Romanian expert Bucharest journalist Octavian Coman, who also agreed to speak with our publication, believes that her scandalous and problematic behavior was too aggressive even for a radical right-wing party. Today, Diana Șoșoacă heads the nationalist party S.O.S România.

 

Calls for the annexation of Ukrainian territories

On March 20, 2023, Diana Șoșoacă submitted a bill to the Romanian Parliament to amend Law No. 129/1997, which ratified the Agreement between Ukraine and Romania on the regime of the Ukrainian-Romanian state border, cooperation and mutual assistance in border matters dated February 2, 1997.

She suggested denouncing the agreement itself, the term of which expires in 2027, and annexing to Romania the Ukrainian territories: Northern Bukovina, Budjak (Kagul, Bolgrad, Izmail), the city of Hertsa (Herța) in the Chernivtsi region, the historical region of Marmaroshchyna, meaning its northern part, which is located in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine — ed.] and Zmiinyi Island.

In an explanatory note, Diana Șoșoacă emphasizes that the annexation is necessary to restore the cultural identity, traditions, customs, and religion of the Romanian population in these territories, namely approximately 1 million people. In addition, the Romanian politician believes that the Ukrainian state treats its citizens of Romanian origin with disrespect and mocks them.

The data on the number of Romanians living in Ukraine are not true, because according to the 2001 census, only 151,000 Romanians lived in the entire territory of Ukraine.

The accusations that the state policy of violating the rights of the Romanian population is carried out in Ukraine also appear to be unfounded. In particular, according to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, in the 2020-2021 academic year, there were 35 schools in Ukraine where children studied in two languages — both Romanian and Ukrainian, and 70 schools with Romanian as the language of instruction. At the same time, in 2005/2006 there were a few more such schools — 115. However, in general, the number of educational institutions in Ukraine from 2005 to 2021 decreased from 21.4 thousand to 14.9 thousand.

 

The reaction of the Romanian society

How widespread are such views on the annexation of Ukrainian territories in Romanian society?

Sergiu Mișcoiu notes that before Romania’s integration into the European Union, especially in the 1990s, nationalist ideas were popular, including territorial claims to neighbors, including the newly created Ukrainian independent state. Of course, such ideas were mainly spread among conservatives, especially right-wing radicals, whose icon was Marshal Ion Antonescu, who «liberated» the territories in the east [referring to the occupation of part of Ukrainian territories by Romanian troops during the Second World War — author]. But after Romania joined the EU, the situation changed.

“Now, because of European integration, these discourses were increasingly less audible. They were pushed to the margins, they were no longer fashionable, the figure of Antonescu disappeared, and it was only in the margins that these ideas were still conveyed. Nevertheless, there was and there still is some sort of sensitivity among the Romanian population related to Greater Romania, to the past, and to what the future could bring back».

Sergiu Mișcoiu notes that it is not possible to determine from the available sociological studies what percentage of the Romanian population supports the annexation of the territory of other states, but it can be argued that it is growing. The problem, in his opinion, has worsened after Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine: the most radical politicians, like Diana Șoșoacă, dare to call for the annexation of Ukrainian territories, comparing the situation with Donbas and Crimea.

At the same time, the situation is different in different regions of Romania. So, in particular, in the most pro-Western region of Cluj, more than 90% of the population believes that Ukraine should be supported in this war, which is more than twice the average for all of Romania.

Journalist Octavian Coman also commented on this situation.

“Extremists and some nationalists in Romania use the situation of ethnic Romanians living in Ukraine in their speeches. They believe that the Romanian minority in Ukraine was not treated properly by the Ukrainian authorities in the years after the break-up of the USSR. The nationalists accuse the Ukrainian authorities of forcing the assimilation of this minority, which was large in number before the Russian invasion. In fact, the situation of Romanians living in Ukraine has been the subject of several recent discussions between the authorities in Bucharest and Kyiv».

 

Relations with Russia

At the joint session of the Romanian Parliament on April 19, 2023, Diana Șoșoacă once again scandalized herself and shouted «Glory to Moscow» during a discussion with her colleague. In addition, information about her meeting with the ambassador of the Russian Federation in Romania Valery Kuzmin repeatedly appeared in the mass media.

Regarding Diana Șoșoacă’s connections with Russia, Sergiu Mișcoiu noted that although there is a lot of such information, it is unverified and there is no direct evidence that would prove, for example, her financing by Russia. But, all over the world, primarily in Europe, the ideas of the Putin regime regarding Russia’s protection of conservative values are being promoted.

«It’s very likely that Diana Șoșoacă is a part of this realm that was approached by the circles of influence from Russia, trying to be boosted in order to push for this nationalist narrative, tearing apart European values and cutting the ties with America and trying to show the weaknesses of Europe. But it is obvious that her ideas are very close to Dugin’s narrative” [Aleksander Dugin — a Russian philosopher, politician of a fascist bent, actively supporting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine — ed.].

Interestingly, as Sergiu Mișcoiu points out, her anti-Ukrainian narrative is a logical extension of her anti-vaccination policy, as it also opposes the official position of the Romanian government. American bloggers who spread pro-Russian theses make similar anti-vaccination theses.

 

Summary

Diana Șoșoacă is a member of the Romanian Parliament who entered politics amid the spread of anti-vaccination views in society during the Covid-19 pandemic. She advocates conservative rather than nationalist ideas. Diana Șoșoacă’s scandalous pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian statements, such as regarding the annexation of the territories of Ukraine, are a logical extension of her political narrative, which contradicts the official course of the Romanian government on this issue. Such ideas are supported by a small part of Romanians society, mainly extreme right and conservatives.

 

Yevgen Dzhumyha