Romania has detained six people — including a 101-year-old, Holocaust-denying, retired general — on charges of treason for allegedly plotting a Russian-backed coup against the government in Bucharest, Romania’s organized crime investigation agency (DIICOT) said Thursday.The group of plotters, which was set up in 2023 and has a military structure, sought to undermine “the sovereignty and independence of the Romanian state by politically undermining the country’s defense capacity,” the DIICOT said in a statement.
The members of the group wanted to pull Romania out of NATO and planned to change country’s name, flag and anthem, according to the agency. Radu Theodoru, the 101-year-old general, who held a prominent position in the far-right Great Romania Party, is known for praising Romania’s fascist movement and having antisemitic views.
Theodoru and others also planned to dissolve current political parties, abolish the constitution and install a new government featuring “a Council of the Wise, a Council of Elders, and Local Committees of the Ancestors” where group members would take positions, the agency said.The news comes a day after Romania exiled two Russian diplomats on suspicion that they met with members of the group of plotters, which was called a “paramilitary group.”“The two Russian diplomats carried out intelligence-gathering activities in areas of strategic interest and took actions to support the unconstitutional efforts of the group,” Romania’s Intelligence Service said in a statement on Thursday.The Russian Embassy in Bucharest said on Facebook that it considers the decision “unjustified, unfriendly, and reserves the right to take retaliatory measures.”Romania has been grappling with growing Russian influence over the past few months after a pro-Russian, far-right firebrand and NATO skeptic — Călin Georgescu — came out of nowhere to win the first round of the presidential vote. But the Constitutional Court annulled the round of the presidential election after an alleged Russian operation was seen to influence the result.
The post Romania foils ‘revolution’ of pro-Russia group featuring a 101-year-old man appeared first on Politico.
