Romania Arrests Suspected Spy For Russia, Declares Diplomat Persona Non Grata

The Russian Embassy building in Bucharest (file photo)

Prosecutors with Romania's anti-organized crime agency on May 24 announced the arrest of a Romanian man suspected of spying for Moscow since 2022.

The Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said the suspect had been monitoring Romanian or NATO military objectives near Tulcea, a town near the border with Ukraine.

The DIICOT did not identify the suspect, but the Bucharest court that isued the arrest warrant identified him as Dorin Alexandru Piscan of Ploiesti. RFE/RL confirmed the suspect's name with a source in the prosecutor's office.

He is suspected of "collecting military information and taking photographs of military combat equipment and the movement of personnel in the border area with Ukraine" and then passing the information to a diplomat at the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, DIICOT said.

Prosecutors with DIICOT searched the home of the suspect, where they collected several pieces of evidence, including images he allegedly took at military bases.

According to DIICOT, Piscan started his activity in 2022, the year that Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Piscan was accused of treason and confined to pretrial detention for 30 days. RFE/RL was unable to reach his lawyer for comment.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry subsequently said that a diplomat at the Russian Embassy had been declared persona non grata for activities in breach of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

The ministry did not identify the diplomat but said it had summoned the Russian charge d'affaires to provide notice about the decision.

The Russian Embassy in Bucharest said in a statement sent to RFE/RL that Romanian authorities had notified the embassy that the diplomat had been accused of "activities incompatible with diplomatic status."

The embassy rejected the accusations and said it "strictly follows" the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

It said the Russian side "reserves the right to take retaliatory measures."

The embassy's statement also indicated that the move was "aimed a further deterioration of bilateral relations between our countries" and that it "can only cause regret."