Is a Romanian version of “lawfare” — and an Eastern European variant of the “Russia Hoax” — behind the exclusion of the rightist politician Călin Georgescu from the country’s presidential race? Those are the incendiary claims made by Mr. Georgescu. He avers that the accusations against him are “just a copy paste of the accusations made against Donald Trump.” Yet the fears being raised about democracy being under threat in Romania appear overstated.

The best reason to view Mr. Georgescu’s claims with a healthy dose of skepticism is that his most avid cheerleaders appear to be based at Moscow — not exactly a haven for pro-democratic sentiment. The ban on Mr. Georgescu’s participation in Romania’s presidential race was just upheld in a final decision by the constitutional court at Bucharest. The Kremlin says that banning Mr. Georgescu means “trampling upon all democratic norms in the center of Europe.”