The USA Government does not support any candidate for Romania's presidency. And no USA Government agency runs any activity to influence the presidential competition. This is the US Ambassador in Bucharest Mark Gitenstein's response to the articles featured in the Romanian press lately.

The USA Embassy in Bucharest sent the declaration of ambassador Gitenstein to the press. Mark Gitenstein appeals to mass media to act responsibly and to present accurate facts.

The American diplomat asked the Romanian citizens to analyse all the candidates and to vote with full awareness on the elections' day.

The Romanian press has published lately information and insinuations regarding the support the American administration gave to one of the candidates, namely to Mircea Geoana. Before the US vice-president Joe Biden's visit to Bucharest, Romanian weekly Academia Catavencu read that he was coming to Romania to support Mircea Geoana in the presidential campaign.

Furthermore, Romanian ex-Prosecutor Ciprian Nastasiu, who once worked for the Invetigation Authority for Organised Crimes and Terrorism (DIICOT), published a book recently: "Pradarea Romaniei" [Stealing Romania], where he brings serious accusations against President Basescu and to some of his close acquaintances, talking about "heavy" dossiers and also about the strategic privatisations and the Omar Hayssam case. There have also been opinions saying that Basescu is being "undermined" by the Americans since the Americans declassified certain information addressing the kidnapping of the Romanian journalists, information quoted in the book through using CIA sources. The USA Government does not support any candidate for Romania's presidency. And no USA Government agency runs any activity to influence the presidential competition. This is the US Ambassador in Bucharest Mark Gitenstein'