Radio România Internațional

Tag: espionage

  • May 25, 2024

    May 25, 2024

    ESPIONAGE – A Romanian citizen was arrested on charges of treason, suspected of spying in Russia’s favor. According to the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the suspect sent to the Russian Embassy in Bucharest images of Romanian or NATO sites in Tulcea (east). He also collected other military information and has been carrying out such activities since 2022. The suspect, Alexandru Piscan, is a young politician from Ploiești, judicial sources say. Prosecutors also searched his home, where they collected several items of evidence. Following this incident, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared a diplomat from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bucharest persona non grata on Romanian territory. Russia will respond in equal measure, the spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, announced shortly after.

     

     

    DRONE – The first Romanian drone is expected to enter production at a factory in Braşov (center), a subsidiary of the ROMARM National Military Company. A first step in this direction was taken on Friday in Bucharest, on the sidelines of the “Black Sea Defense and Aerospace” international exhibition, with the signing of a strategic agreement with Periscope Aviation, an American manufacturer of military and commercial drones. Economy Minister Radu Oprea said the agreement is a premiere for the Romanian defense industry, being the first strategic partnership a domestic company signs in the field of constructing military and civilian drones. Two other agreements related to research activity in the field were also signed, the Romanian official said. Participants in the “Black Sea Defense and Aerospace” exhibition said the objective of the agreement is the mass production of a 100% Romanian drone, intended for both military and civilian use, such as agriculture.

     

     

    FESTIVAL – Festivities marking the “Day of Romanians Worldwide”, celebrated every year on the last Sunday of May, continue across the country. Saturday saw the official opening of the communication session, with Romanians abroad having the opportunity of talking directly to state representatives to convey the concerns, needs and difficulties they face in host countries and upon returning to Romania, but also to get to know each other, share experiences, best practices and plan joint projects. Over 500 Romanians from the diaspora and historical communities from 34 countries are expected to take part in the 7th edition of the “Here and there” festival. The event brings together Romanian artists from the country and abroad, as well as representatives of associations, academia and the business environment from Romanian communities abroad.

     

     

    SHIELD – The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk addressed a letter to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, requesting the creation of an EU-funded common European air defense shield, given that all countries are experiencing financial difficulties. In their letter, the two officials want the shield to be similar to the Israeli anti-missile and anti-aircraft system Iron Dome, with a view to protecting Europe against enemy aircraft, missiles and drones. At the same time, the approval of such a project at the level would send a clear message about the EU’s determination to defend itself, the document states. On the other hand, the six NATO countries neighboring Russia have agreed to build a “drone wall” to defend their borders against “acts of provocation” the Lithuanian government announced. We’re not talking just about physical infrastructure, surveillance systems, but also about drones and other technologies, which would allow us to protect ourselves against the challenges of hostile countries and prevent smuggling, the Minister of the Interior of Lithuania, Agnė Bilotaitė, said following talks with her counterparts from the other two Baltic countries – Latvia and Estonia – and from Finland, Norway and Poland.

     

     

    FILM – Emanuel Pârvu’s “Three Kilometers to the End of the World”, selected in the official Palm D’or competition at the Cannes International Festival, has scooped the Queer Palm on Friday, an alternative award bestowed every year to a feature film that deals with “LGBT characters or themes”. The feature tells the story of Adi, a 17-year-old teenager who spends his summer holiday in his hometown in the Danube Delta. One evening, he is violently attacked in the street. The next day, his world is completely turned upside down, his parents treat him differently and the apparent tranquility of the village is shattered. The Queer Palm jury was chaired this year by Belgian director Lukas Dhont (known for the features “Close”, “Girl”), who picked the winner from 18 films enrolled in the competition. Also at Cannes, two other Romanian productions were screened. The film “Nasty”, directed by Cristian Pascariu, Tudor D. Popescu and Tudor Giurgiu, was screened in the “Special Screenings” section. It offers a captivating foray into the life of the legendary Ilie Năstase, the first rebel in the history of tennis. Ioana Mischie’s project “Human Violins: Prelude” was premiered at Cannes in the immersive competition devoted to virtual reality, a competition introduced for the first time in the history of the event.

     

     

    FRENCH OPEN – Four Romanian tennis players will perform in the women’s main draw at Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the year. They will all compete in the first round. Sorana Cîrstea (30 WTA), Romania’s best-ranked tennis player at present, was seeded 28th and will take on Anna Blinkova of Russia (45 WTA). Jaqueline Cristian (67 WTA) faces a tougher opponent, 9th-seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (10 WTA). Ana Bogdan (63 WTA) will face Elsa Jacquemot of France (150 WTA), the beneficiary of a wild card. Finally, Irina Begu (126 WTA), who benefits from protected ranking, will take on an opponent from the final preliminary round. A player may petition for protected ranking in a total of eight tournaments in the WTA calendar if she has been unable to play for six to twelve months. (VP)

  • July 26, 2023 UPDATE

    July 26, 2023 UPDATE

    HEAT Wednesday was a new day with extreme heat in Romania. The capital
    city Bucharest and several counties in the south and south-east were subject to
    a code red alert for temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius and a
    temperature-humidity index above the critical 80 units. Code orange and yellow
    alerts were also in place elsewhere in the country. On Tuesday the extreme
    temperatures disrupted railway traffic and caused road traffic restrictions. On
    the other hand, violent storms were reported in the west, north and centre of
    the country, where substantial damages were reported. On
    Thursday, the temperature is expected to drop significantly, to highs between
    19 and 28 degrees Celsius.




    PROTEST Romanian construction workers Wednesday picketed the government
    headquarters to protest the Cabinet’s decision to scrap the tax facilities
    granted to the employees in this sector. The head of the National Trade Union
    Bloc (BNS), Dumitru Costin, said the proposed amendments to the Fiscal Code
    affect not only the construction sector, but other categories of employees as
    well. The BNS and the Familia General Federation of Trade Unions came up with a
    set of measures to avoid the scrapping of tax facilities as of September 1,
    including a new collective bargaining agreement for the sector and a gradual
    elimination of the fiscal facility, in keeping with the roadmap agreed on under
    the National Recovery and Resilience Plan as of 2025. They also suggest adjustments
    to budget appropriations for the investment projects funded by the government
    or from EU funds, as well as a salary policy for this sector for the
    forthcoming years able to ensure balanced salaries, especially in the private
    sector.


    MEETING The Romanian
    foreign minister Luminiţa Odobescu Wednesday had talks with her French
    counterpart, Catherine Colonna, about the security situation at the Black Sea.
    In a Twitter post, Odobescu described the dialogue as very good. Bilateral
    cooperation was reconfirmed on this occasion. We have emphasised our joint
    support for Ukraine and the R. of Moldova, as well as our determination to
    consolidate security and resilience at the Black Sea, the Romanian diplomacy
    chief said in her post.


    DIPLOMACY The foreign
    minister of the Republic of Moldova, Nicu Popescu, Wednesday requested a
    limitation on the number of Russian diplomats accredited to Chişinău. He said
    the country has been for several years the target of hostile policies on
    Russia’s part, and that some of them were completed via the Russian Embassy
    there. Ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov was summoned to the Moldovan Foreign Ministry
    for explanations, after a media report revealed that the Russian diplomatic
    mission had installed high-performance espionage and interception equipment on
    its rooftop. The media in Chişinău mentioned 28 satellite dishes and telecoms
    devices, while individuals tied to Russian intelligence services were seen on
    the buildings. The authorities in Chisinau decided that the two countries’
    embassies would have equal numbers of diplomatic personnel, specifically 10 diplomatic
    positions and 15 administrative, technical and support posts, Moldpres reports.
    Consequently, the staff of Russia’s embassy in Chişinău will be reduced from 84
    to 25.


    NATO The NATO
    secretary general Jens Stoltenberg convened a first NATO – Ukraine Council
    meeting at ambassador level on Wednesday, at the request of Kyiv. The meeting
    focused on consultations on recent developments, with participants discussing
    the transport of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, the NATO spokesperson Oana
    Lungescu said. Ukraine’s request came after Russia terminated the so-called
    grains deal and started attacking the Ukrainian port infrastructure. Also on
    Wednesday, the head of the press office for the southern Ukrainian defence
    command, Natalia Humeniuk, said Russia was already using Shahed-type drones
    assembled in Russia.




    SWIMMING The Romanian swimmer David Popovici Wednesday qualified into
    the final of the 100m freestyle race at the World Championships in Fukuoka (Japan). Popovici, the defending world champion in
    this event, also holds the world record, set last year at the European
    Championships in Rome. The 100m freestyle final is scheduled for Thursday. On
    Tuesday, Popovici, also a former world champion in the 200m freestyle event,
    finished the competition’s final on the 4th place. (AMP)

  • Romanian exile and anti-communist espionage

    Romanian exile and anti-communist espionage





    Meticulously researched and studied, the archives of communism continue to reveal dramatic life stories and surprising information that complete the history of this dictatorship. Recently, historian Lucian Vasile discovered and recreated the adventures of Romanians in exile who, in the early 1950s, undertook espionage actions against the communist regime. These actions were organized, for the most part, by a structure called the Intelligence Service of the Romanian Military in Exile (ISRME) and aimed at attracting collaborators to spy on the communist institutions from within and to collect data that, in the context of the Cold War, could have benefited Western organizations in the event of the destabilization of the Bucharest regime. What plans they had, what they managed to do concretely and how they were caught, in the end, we all learn from the book Spies War. The secret actions of the Romanian exile at the beginning of communism written by Lucian Vasile, who told us about his book:

    Those in exile organized themselves at the proposal of the French secret services, and there was a big argument there, because the French would have wanted the Romanian service to be a pocket structure of theirs, while the Romanians in the diaspora wanted to be independent, to be equal partners to the French. And they succeeded at least from 1950 to 1952. In 1951, the American secret services were already appearing, working with the French to form an information pole that would represent the West, and also collaborating with the Romanian services related to the conventional organization of exile, i.e. by the Romanian National Committee, even going as far as King Mihai, who was aware of this service and had even appointed the official head of the structure, General Dumitru Puiu Petrescu. But there were, of course, other structures, either people acting on their own, or some more organized ones from the Legionary Movement who wanted to get out of political ostracism and legitimize themselves by collaborating with the American services. In fact, they were also the most involved in all these very direct actions of parachuting into Romania, of sending some secret agents who should have done something, although even for them it was not very clear what.







    For their part, the communist authorities – with the help of the USSR – knew how to counter the actions of spies in exile as effectively as possible. Bucharest’s counterintelligence was – and I’m sorry to say it – it was one step, if not two, ahead of every operation carried out from exile. It was really a battle between David and Goliath, says historian Lucian Vasile:







    The spies we know about are actually spies who have been captured. There were certainly some informative wins too, but we don’t know about them. Perhaps only in Western archives can we find information about these achievements. In contrast, those who were captured by the communist counterintelligence did not do much harm. The few people who formed the Romanian military intelligence service in exile tried but failed to send essential information. In other ways, however, they managed to obtain information about the airports and the Soviet military equipment existing in the country, about the troop movements in the East, about the fortifications on the Black Sea. There were some successes. But how useful were they? Hard to say. I would say that rather they would have been useful in case the third World War had broken out, so expected by many Romanians in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

    Within ISRME, the brains of the operations was the aviation commander Mihail (Mișu) Opran, the head of the counterintelligence office and the de facto leader of the secret service. One of the double agents with whom he worked was Mihail Țantu, in his turn an aviation officer, a member of the first paratrooper company of the Romanian army during the Second World War, a political prisoner at the beginning of communism, the hero of an escape from prison too unusual not to be seen as suspicious. He fled the country and ended up working within SIMRE, which, by the way, actually sent him back to Romania. Historian Lucian Vasile tells how some of the actions coordinated by Opran and put into practice by people like Țantu were carried out.









    Some actions were carried out by agents and through parachuting, others were done by recruiting someone who went from Bucharest to Paris and then came back with the informational material by which they were supposed to recruit agents and then send information to the West. The capture was done differently with respect to the paratroopers. In the early 1950s, almost all of them were captured. In 1953, a trial was staged for them, called the trial of the paratroopers. It had been an independent project of the American services, but the Communists staged a big trial, which remained somewhat mentioned in historiography. The mercenaries, at least, were caught by accident. At one point they were surprised by a little girl on the field, one of the teams, and there they had a choice. Should we kill her or not? And they chose not to kill her. It snowballed from there, because the little girl discovered the weapons and alerted the authorities. The authorities figured out that someone had been parachuted in, so it must have been someone from there. Let’s see who’s from this area and missing from home. Little by little they, they managed to capture one of them who confessed everything in the investigations. And from there it was just a hunt, a spy hunt.

    Although without notable successes, the espionage actions organized by the Romanian exile in the early 1950s were marked by a certain effervescence that diminished after the removal of Mihail Opran from the SIMRE leadership. (MI)

  • October 4, 2022 UPDATE

    October 4, 2022 UPDATE

    ESPIONAGE Prosecutors with the Directorate Investigating Organised
    Crime and Terrorism Offences (DIICOT) have indicted 4 Romanian and foreign
    nationals as part of an espionage inquiry targeting the Serbian company NIS
    Petrol, a subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom. Prosecutors have
    ordered searches in Bucharest and Timișoara, both at the company headquarters, and
    at the homes of a number of employees, confiscating documents and data storage devices.
    The four are accused of having traded classified information and of
    facilitating the unauthorised transfer of data concerning Romania’s mineral reserves,
    prosecutors say. In 2009, Gazprom bought the majority stake in NIS under an
    agreement signed by Belgrade and Moscow.


    ECONOMY Romania’s economy
    is expected to grow by 4.6% this year, the World Bank announced on Tuesday. The
    estimate is better than the one made public in June, when the figure only
    stood at 2.9%. The improvement is based on robust private consumption and early
    signs that investments would pick up, but the outlook depends on the
    developments in Ukraine and their impact on the European economy on the whole,
    the institution says.


    MOTION USR Deputies, in opposition, together with MPs from the Force
    of the Right, have tabled a simple motion in the Chamber of Deputies against
    the interior minister Lucian Bode, whom they accuse of incompetence and
    protecting party interests. The USR leader Cătălin Drulă says Bode must answer,
    among other things, to allegations that the Romanian Police purchased new cars
    through public procurement procedures that favoured companies linked to the Liberal
    Party. Bode is also criticised for failing to reach a number of targets,
    including the electronic monitoring of offenders and the interior
    ministry reform. The motion will be discussed and voted on next Tuesday.


    LEGISLATION A draft law regulating the judge and prosecutor
    professions was endorsed on Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies. The bill had
    passed all the required stages of the legislative process, including the approval
    of the Higher Council of Magistrates, the justice minister Cătălin Predoiu said.
    The act was criticised however by the USR and AUR parties, in opposition. The
    decision-making body in this case is the Senate. The bill is the 3rd
    normative act in a law package regulating the judiciary, next to one on the
    Higher Council of Magistrates and the organisation of courts, which have
    already been endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies.


    FUNDING Romania may get about EUR 1.5 billion for energy
    independence projects and for fighting energy poverty, following the
    endorsement of the REpowerEU plan by the Economic and Financial Council in
    Luxembourg. Romania is the 6th EU member state to benefit from the
    new funding, said the finance minister Adrian Câciu. He explained that during
    negotiations the funding earmarked for Romania practically doubled compared to
    the original proposal made by the European Commission this May.



    NOBEL The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to
    Alain Aspect (France), John F. Clauser (USA) and Anton Zeillinger (Austria) for
    their revolutionary experiments with entangled photons, establishing the
    violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.
    Their findings have laid the foundation for a new era of quantum technology. (AMP)