Ex-Romanian president Ion Iliescu told Russian journalists fromVremia novostei that he did not know who opened fire during the 1989 Revolution. "It's still an enigma. I believe it was a structure prepared by Ceausescu for troubled times, for guerrilla fights in urban conditions in case the country should be occupied. That is a group of people extremely devoted to Ceausescu". Iliescu noted that Romanian - Russian relations would have improved if Mircea Geoana had been elected president with December 6 elections, because "he has an openness and a different intellectual training compared with Basescu, whose political mindset id primitive".

Asked about he debates abut the nature of the events 20 years ago in Romania, namely state blow, revolution or the "December 1989 events" tag, Iliescu replied that "the Romanian Revolution was part of an extensive collapsing process of the entire state socialist system. It didn't crush because of external factors or imperialist forces attacks. It was an internal erosion, which had started with the 20th Congress of PCUS in 1956, with the condemnation of Stalinism, which compromises the idea of socialism".Talking about USSR's role in the changes that shook East Europe in 1989, Iliescu said that the then leader, Mihail Gorbachev, understood the system was collapsing, lacked competitiveness with the world's dynamic changes and new realities. USSR failed to live up to Ronald Reagan’s "Star Wars". Romania resisted the Soviet reforms, like perestroika and glasnost, despite Romania being the most open country from the socialist camp in the 60's, towards Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej last mandate and the beginning of Nicolae Ceausescu's presidency. "Political detainees were set free, culture and arts went through a free period, censorship was cancelled. At that point, many intellectuals joined the Communist Party". Romania condemned the s