Calin Georgescu has claimed his opposition to the supposed plans led to his candidacy being invalidated by the "globalist mafia"

Calin Georgescu, a former Romanian presidential candidate whose bid was controversially invalidated earlier this year, has claimed that NATO wants to "launch World War III from Romania." In an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, he said his staunch pro-peace stance was among the main reasons why he was barred from running for president.

The right-wing politician, known as an outspoken critic of NATO, the EU, and Western support for Ukraine, scored a surprise win in the first round of November's presidential election, receiving 23% of the vote. However, the country's Constitutional Court swiftly moved in to annul the result over alleged "irregularities" in his campaign. Later, Georgescu was stripped of his right to run for office.

Appearing on Carlson's podcast on Thursday, the former Romanian presidential candidate alleged that NATO wants to "launch... World War III from Romania." The politician cited the fact that the "largest military base of NATO is in Romania," coupled with the 380-mile (612 km) long border that his country shares with Ukraine.

"In this situation of course Romania is the asset for [the] European Union, for [French President Emmanuel] Macron in order to launch the war," Georgescu insisted.

"They want to turn NATO [into] an offensive force" and are "pushing for war," he alleged, adding that "my position was exactly against them."

According to Georgescu, "all my campaign was just concentrate[d] on peace[.] When I said... the word 'peace', they immediately alerted... because they need war."

The right-wing politician went on to say that the "majority of Romanian people... have this position against any intervention and any participation [in] war."

"I was denied [the right to run for president] by the globalist mafia," the former candidate alleged, further claiming that the people behind the invalidation of his candidacy were the same people who attempted to derail Donald Trump's presidential campaign in the US, using similar smear tactics.

Appearing on 'The Shawn Ryan Show' in January, Georgescu similarly suggested that NATO military infrastructure in Romania could be used to launch a major offensive against Russia.

Bucharest, a NATO member since 2004, has been expanding the MK Air Base to make it the largest NATO installation in Europe.

Moscow has described the base as "anti-Russian" and warned that it would be among the first targets for retaliatory strikes in a military conflict.