Romania detained six people on charges of trying to overthrow the state with Russia\u2019s help, prosecutors said on Thursday, and a 101-year-old former army major general said his home had been raided as part of the investigation. <\/p>\n
The suspects were detained on Wednesday, the same day Romania – a European Union and NATO member state – declared the Russian embassy\u2019s military attache and his deputy personae non grata for what it said were acts contravening diplomatic rules. <\/p>\n
Moscow has said it will respond to the move. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe members of the criminal group repeatedly contacted agents of a foreign power, located both in Romania and the Russian Federation,\u201d anti-organized crime prosecutors agency DIICOT said in a statement, which did not name the suspects. <\/p>\n
Romania\u2019s intelligence agency SRI said the two expelled Russian diplomats \u201ccollected information in areas of strategic interest and took measures to support the anti-constitutional moves of the group.\u201d <\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors said the group had a military-type structure, with judicial sources naming 101-year-old former army major general Radu Theodoru as a suspect. <\/p>\n
Theodoru, a Holocaust denier who has repeatedly praised Romania\u2019s fascist World War Two leadership, said in a recorded interview with his daughter posted on his Facebook page that he believed the current government represented \u201can anti-Romanian state, a system organized to rob this country.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThey wasted this country and now they defend themselves and find reasons to misinform the public,\u201d he added. Theodoru did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors said the group had taken steps to negotiate with external forces regarding the potential withdrawal of Romania, which shares a border with Ukraine, from the NATO military alliance. <\/p>\n
They said the group aimed to install a new government and dissolve the current constitutional order, introducing a new flag, national anthem and changing the country\u2019s name. <\/p>\n
Political tensions have been running high in Romania since its top court voided the presidential election in December amid accusations of Russian interference – denied by Moscow – in favor of far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu. <\/p>\n
Georgescu is himself under investigation on six charges, all of which he denies. <\/p>\n
The investigation announced on Thursday is unrelated to Georgescu, prosecution sources said. Judicial sources quoted by TV station Antena3 said one of the expelled Russian officials was loosely tied to a suspect in the Georgescu investigation. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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