Romania says Russia-coordinated sabotage network behind fire near defense manufacturer

By Necva Tastan Sevinc

ISTANBUL (AA) - Romanian authorities said Monday that they have identified a sabotage network coordinated from Russia which they believe is responsible for a fire in September near a defense manufacturer in the central city of Brasov.

The Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) said the network caused the Sept. 14 fire at the Carfil industrial platform near the premises of defense manufacturer Carfil SA, a subsidiary of Romania's national defense company CN ROMARM, Romanian broadcaster Antena 3 reported.

Romanian Foreign Minister Dan Neculaescu said the incident was part of a wider campaign targeting defense production across Europe.

“Hybrid attacks will not hold us back from strengthening our resilience and defense,” Neculaescu wrote on the US social media platform X.

Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said three suspects -- two Belarusian citizens and one Ukrainian citizen -- were involved in the case.

Two were located and arrested in Germany while allegedly preparing similar acts, prosecutors said. A European arrest warrant was issued Monday for the third suspect, who was located in Poland.

The SRI said the network’s activities extended beyond Romania and that its alleged coordinators in Russia had assigned it targets including public and private weapons production facilities and other sites of military and industrial interest.

The agency said investigations this year had also identified other attempted attacks in Romania, including against international military facilities and sites used to train Ukrainian forces.

Neculaescu said Romanian authorities had exposed “a sabotage network coordinated by the Russian Federation” behind the Brasov fire.

Carfil recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Greek company Altus LSA on cooperation in autonomous systems, counter-drone systems and defense.

Necva Taştan Sevinç