“George Simion Banned from Entering Moldova Due to Alleged Ties to Russian Intelligence Services, Vlad Filat Confirms”

Former Prime Minister of Moldova, Vlad Filat confirmed for the “Defense Romania” channel (in a show moderated by Tudor Curtifan) that George Simion was banned from entering the Republic of Moldova because in 2015, the governing coalition received information from it turned out that the AUR leader “had contacts with the Russian special services”.

Vlad Filat wanted to specify that he does not want his statements to be interpreted politically and that he does not want to be involved in the “clarifications from Romania”, but that he cannot but recognize the fact that, “at the time when George Simion was banned regarding access to Moldova, there were quite a few discussions between the leaders of the governing coalition”.

“I can’t help but say that when that ban was implemented for George Simion, within the governing coalition at that time – in the spring of 2015 – we had discussions, and not a few, considering that the ban targeted a Romanian citizen, European”, explained Filat.

He said that because of the discussions, the head of the SIS (Information and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova) was summoned to the meeting of the coalition leaders, who presented “certain information that cannot be detailed and from which it appeared that Simion has contacts with the special services Russian”.

“(…) During the meeting, the head of the SIS at the time presented certain information, I won’t go into details here – which indicated… once again, I don’t give qualifications… but during that meeting of the governing coalition – of which he was a part the party that I led, the Democratic Party and the Liberal Reform Party – we were informed that there were certain contacts with the Russian special services. That’s all I can tell you as a comment, for the rest…”, explained Vlad Filat.

We remind you that Anatol Șalaru, the former Minister of Defense from the Republic of Moldova, revealed towards the end of March that George Simion had a meeting, 12 years ago, with a head of the Russian FSB secret service.

“He was perceived as a unionist from Romania, that’s how I perceived him as well. The biggest shock came when he was expelled from Moldova and I didn’t understand why. How can someone who is a unionist, a friend of the Republic of Moldova be expelled? Then I, being a deputy, had a meeting with the director of SIS, and I asked him how he could expel him. He told me that he coordinated all the actions with the services in Romania. He told me that George Simion has been monitored for many years by the Moldovan services, by the services in Ukraine, who determined (…) that in 2011, I don’t remember the month, George Simion in Chernivtsi met with the resident of the FSB and that George Simion’s actions are not what we think they are (…) He told me that here in Moldova George Simion often meets with Mark Tkaciuk, who was the man of the Russian services. (…) I did not get to know the documents and I rely on what the director of the SIS told me then, who was very well informed”, said the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Moldova, according to ILD.

Both the AUR formation and George Simion rejected the information regarding the collaboration with the Russian intelligence services.

Simion said that he had not met any FSB agent and announced that he had sued the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Moldova, Anatol Selaru, for slander. “He makes me look like James Bond, but I was 23, who would I date? I haven’t seen any Russians,” said Simion.