Why Romanians are voting for a pro-Moscow candidate?

I was surprised by the outcome of the recent elections in Romania, so I have a question to my Romanian friends. Why a large chunk of Romanian population decided to vote for a candidate who explicitly praises Putin, calls for halting the aid to Ukraine etc.?

While it's understandable to expect from Slovakia (or Serbia for that matter) to align themselves to Russia due to them being Slavic, I don't understand Romania's reasoning here. To make it worst, the Russian Empire imvaded Bessarabia, the Soviets later created Moldova and even today I wouldn't be surprised if Putin's Russia decides to "liberate" Transnistria.