The Romanian Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) has detained six people on charges of forming a criminal group and treason, Agerpres reported, BTA reported.
The six are accused of creating a military-type organization and negotiating with Russian agents for Romania's exit from NATO. The group's members have repeatedly come into contact with agents of a foreign power on the territory of both Romania and Russia, the statement said.
According to DIICOT, the organization had a military-type structure and was headed by a major general from the reserve. The investigation found that members of the group recruited followers through online platforms and published video materials addressed to Romanian state authorities, national and international organizations.
In addition, the defendants took action to conduct negotiations with foreign political and military factors to withdraw Romania from NATO, overthrow the current constitutional order, close political parties, install a new government composed of members of the organization, dismiss all employees of state institutions, adopt a new constitution and change the name, flag and anthem of the state.
In January, two of the defendants traveled to Moscow, where they came into contact with individuals willing to support the organization's efforts to seize state power in Romania.
The statement said that five of the detainees founded the organization in 2023. with the aim of undermining the sovereignty and independence of the Romanian state by undermining the country's political and defense capacity. The sixth defendant joined in 2024.
Searches were carried out yesterday in eight locations in Bucharest and the counties of Ilfov, Giurgiu and Maramures, where evidence was seized. Today, the case will be presented before a judge from the Bucharest Court of Appeal with a proposal for preventive detention of four of the defendants and house arrest for the other two.
Yesterday, the Romanian authorities declared the military attaché of the Russian Federation in Bucharest and his deputy persona non grata for “carrying out activities that contradict the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations“. There is currently no information whether today's arrests are related to the expulsion of the Russian diplomats.