Russia Arrests Romanian Suspected Of Spying For Ukraine

Russia’s security services said Friday they had arrested a Romanian citizen on suspicion of spying on military sites for Ukraine.

Ties between Moscow and Bucharest have come under increasing strain in recent months amid allegations Russia interfered in Romania’s presidential election.

The FSB security agency said in a statement it had arrested a “Romanian citizen born in 2002 who was involved in intelligence activities on behalf of the Ukrainian special services”.

The agency alleged the suspect had “collected and transmitted information about the locations of air defence systems in the city of Sochi”.

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State media published an FSB video showing a man being pushed to the ground and arrested by two FSB officers in camouflage.

In a filmed interrogation with his face blurred, the suspect, speaking English, said he had sent information about the location of a Russian air defence battery he had seen to a senior Ukrainian intelligence officer called Vladimir.

Both countries have expelled diplomats and military attaches in recent weeks, with Russia denying allegations of election interference.

Moscow was accused of being behind a massive social media push to get little-known EU and NATO critic Calin Georgescu elected president of Romania.

Romanian authorities threw out the results of the first round of last year’s presidential election after Georgescu topped the polls, boosted by a huge social media campaign promoting his candidacy.

AFP