Romania says a sabotage network coordinated from Russia started a fire next to a state arms factory in Brașov

Romanian authorities said on Monday 26 October that a sabotage network “coordinated from the Russian Federation” was behind a fire on 14 September at an industrial site in Brașov, next to CARFIL SA, a subsidiary of the state arms maker ROMARM, the state news agency AGERPRES reported.

The Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said three people were involved: two Belarusian nationals and one Ukrainian national, all living in EU member states. Two were located and placed in pre-trial detention in Germany “while preparing to carry out similar acts”, and a European arrest warrant was issued for the third, who has been located in Poland. Romania is seeking the extradition of all three, DIICOT said.

The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) said the network’s coordinators in Russia had assigned it targets across the region, including state and private arms factories, and called the case “part of a broader campaign of sabotage operations orchestrated by the Russian Federation in Europe”. It said such networks often recruit people on social media with offers of money for “seemingly harmless” tasks that can escalate to “arson, or even assassination”.

Foreign Minister Dan Neculaescu wrote on X: “Hybrid attacks will not hold us back from strengthening our resilience and defense.” There was no immediate comment from Russia, Al Jazeera reported; Moscow has repeatedly denied similar accusations.

Background

Romania, an EU and NATO member, shares a border of more than 600km with Ukraine. President Nicușor Dan has said Romania is a target of a hybrid war by Russia, citing drone incursions, cyberattacks, disinformation and sabotage. In recent weeks there have been fires and explosions at defence sites in Bulgaria, Germany and Italy, Al Jazeera reported.