A professional-Russian politicianhas threatened to ‘break’ Volodymyr Zelensky’s legs if he tried speaking in Romania’s parliament.
Diana Șoșoacă is not any stranger to controversies – whether as a member of the European Parliament or as a star on TikTok.
After entering politics in 2019, the previous lawyer strongly opposed Covid-19 measures, including vaccines and peddled conspiracy theories.
Because the war in Ukraine broke out, she also adopted a pro-Russian stance, for which she was banned from the country.
Șoșoacă again raised raised eyebrows across Europe after journeying to Moscow for a gathering of the international association ‘Friends of Russia’ on Saturday.
The 49-year-old said in regards to the Ukrainian president: ‘If he dares to return to my parliament, I’ll break his legs!
‘He must not give a speech in my parliament.
‘Why do I say “my parliament”? Because Romania’s structure says that we, the members of parliament, are the representatives of the Romanian people and the one ones who can represent the sovereignty of the nation.’
Repeating claims peddled by Kremlin propagandists, Șoșoacă also spoke about what she described because the ‘oppression of over one million Romanians in Ukraine,’ who’re supposedly ‘forbidden to talk Romanian and practice Orthodoxy’.
In her post on Facebook, she boasted that her ‘nationalist message’ was ‘highly appreciated by the youth’.
She claimed that she ‘received applause’ from those present on the event, hosted by by pro-Putin activist Pietro Stramezzi.
To her fans within the Balkan nation, Șoșoacă is often called ‘the mother of the nation.’
Taking a page out of Victor Orban’s playbook in Hungary, the politician has positioned herself as a defender of traditional values.
It’s the mix of nationalism, religious symbolism, and anti-establishment rhetoric that places her throughout the rise of the far-right across Europe.
In 2024, she filed a presidential candidacy bid – but was barred by a court in Romania over her pro-Russian stance.
Ukrainian media outlet, Ukrainska Pravda, reported that Șoșoacă is facing 11 investigations in Romania, including for promoting war criminals and denying the Holocaust.
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