A Romanian citizen has been arrested on charges of spying for Russsia.
The unidentified person who has been photographing Romanian and NATO military objectives in Tulcea, near the Ukrainian border, since 2022, handed over material to the Russian embassy in Bucharest, anti-organized crime prosecutors said.
The person was detained on Thursday for 30 days on charges of treason.
G4 Media identified him as Alexandru Piscan, whose social media presence suggests he is a Kremlin sympathizer. He apparently was considering running for mayor in the southern city of Ploiesti, the site reported.
In a related development, Romania’s Foreign Ministry declared a diplomat at the Russian persona non grata “for or activities contrary to the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” shorthand for espionage.
Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu summoned the Russian charged’ affaires (Russia currently has no ambassador) on Friday to convey the charges, following which the diplomat will be expelled.
The Romanian was detained on Thursday according to the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism.
“The defendant is under investigation for committing the crime of treason. Evidence shows that starting from 2022, he proceeded to supervise Romanian or NATO military objectives located in the vicinity of Tulcea and collected military information and took photos on military combat technique and the movement of personnel in the border area with Ukraine, which he then transmitted to diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Bucharest,” DIICOT said in a press release on Friday.
Prosecutors carried out a house search and identified and seized more evidence.
Romania’s Intelligence Agency, the SRI, and military intelligence department within the Defense Ministry, and gendarmes from the Special Intervention Brigade of the „Vlad the Impaler” Brigade aided the investigation.
Specialized support was provided by the Technical and Forensic Service of DIICOT and the Romanian police foSpecial Operations Directorate within IGPR.
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