Romania says Russia-run sabotage network set fire near weapons factory

Authorities say the fire in Brasov in September is part of a broader Russian campaign against European countries that support Ukraine.

Exterior view of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Constanta, Romania [File: Costin Dinca/ Inquam Photos]

Romanian authorities say they have uncovered a network “coordinated” by Russia that they believe was responsible for a fire at an industrial site near a state-owned weapons factory in September.

Romania’s Intelligence Service said on Monday that the blaze in the central city of Brasov on September 14 was “part of a wider campaign of sabotage operations coordinated” by Russia amid its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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The agency said the operations were aimed at arms manufacturers and “other targets of military and industrial interest”.

“These actions are intended to intimidate, undermine defence capabilities and weaken the contribution of the targeted states to European and regional security,” it said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from Russia on Romania’s claim. Moscow has previously repeatedly denied such accusations.

Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, known as DIICOT, said three people had been involved in the Brasov fire – two Belarusians and a Ukrainian, all living in European Union countries.

Two were “tracked down and remanded in custody in Germany while they were preparing to commit similar offenses”, the directorate said.

The third remains at large in Poland.

According to Romania’s Intelligence Service, recruits for such networks are often found on social media and are first offered money “for a seemingly harmless task”, such as “observing or photographing certain targets”.

Over time, “the tasks become increasingly serious, potentially involving acts of vandalism, arson or even murder”, it said.

Romania, a member of the EU and NATO, shares a border of more than 600km with Ukraine.

Its centrist president, Nicusor Dan, has said the country is a target of a hybrid war that Russia is waging to destabilise nations backing Kyiv, citing drone incursions into Romanian airspace, cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and sabotage.

Foreign Minister Dan Neculaescu said the fire in Brasov was “part of a broader campaign of sabotage across Europe” targeting military production.

“Hybrid attacks will not hold us back from strengthening our resilience and defense,” he wrote on X.

The accusation follows a string of incidents at defence sites across Europe in recent weeks.

In September, explosions and a fire erupted at an ammunition storage site in Bulgaria, weeks after a blaze at another munitions facility in the country. Both sites are operated by the Bulgarian arms maker EMCO, whose munitions are used in Ukraine.

That same month, firebombs were thrown near the offices of a defence company in Munich, and Romanian authorities said they had detained a Russian citizen accused of filming and photographing military sites in preparation for sabotage.

In August, a blast struck an ammunition factory near Rome in Italy operated by the arms maker KNDS.

At sea, at least eight cargo ships have been hit off the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria over the past three weeks, and about 34 sailors have been reported dead or missing.

Dan, the Romanian president, has called the attacks on ships in Romanian waters “a new example of the tragic consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine”.

A year ago, Poland and Romania also detained eight people suspected of taking part in a Russian plot to send exploding parcels to Ukraine.

当局称，9 月份发生在布拉索夫的火灾是俄罗斯针对支持乌克兰的欧洲国家发起的更广泛行动的一部分。

俄罗斯联邦驻罗马尼亚康斯坦察总领事馆外观[文件：Costin Dinca/Inquam Photos]

罗马尼亚当局表示，他们发现了一个由俄罗斯“协调”的网络，他们认为该网络应对9月份发生在一家国有武器工厂附近工业区的火灾负责。

罗马尼亚情报部门周一表示，9月14日发生在中部城市布拉索夫的火灾是俄罗斯在全面入侵乌克兰期间协调开展的“更广泛的破坏行动的一部分”。

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该机构表示，这些行动的目标是武器制造商和“其他具有军事和工业利益的目标”。

声明称：“这些行动旨在恐吓、破坏国防能力，并削弱目标国家对欧洲和地区安全的贡献。”

俄罗斯方面尚未就罗马尼亚的指控发表评论。莫斯科此前曾多次否认此类指控。

罗马尼亚有组织犯罪和恐怖主义调查局（DIICOT）表示，布拉索夫纵火案涉及三人——两名白俄罗斯人和一名乌克兰人，他们都居住在欧盟国家。

该局表示，其中两人“在德国被追踪到并被拘留，当时他们正准备实施类似的犯罪行为”。

第三名嫌犯仍然在波兰境内逍遥法外。

据罗马尼亚情报部门称，此类网络的招募对象通常来自社交媒体，他们首先会被提供金钱，用于“看似无害的任务”，例如“观察或拍摄某些目标”。

报告称，随着时间的推移，“这些任务会变得越来越严重，可能涉及破坏公物、纵火甚至谋杀等行为”。

罗马尼亚是欧盟和北约成员国，与乌克兰接壤，边界线长达 600 多公里。

罗马尼亚中间派总统尼库索尔·丹表示，罗马尼亚是俄罗斯为破坏支持基辅的国家稳定而发动的混合战争的目标，他列举了无人机入侵罗马尼亚领空、网络攻击、虚假信息宣传和破坏活动等例子。

外交部长丹·内库拉埃斯库表示，布拉索夫的火灾是“针对军事生产的更广泛的欧洲破坏活动的一部分”。

“混合攻击不会阻止我们加强韧性和防御，”他在 X 上写道。

此前几周，欧洲各地的国防设施发生了一系列事件，随后便出现了这一指控。

9月，保加利亚一处弹药库发生爆炸和火灾，数周前该国另一处弹药设施也发生火灾。这两处设施均由保加利亚武器制造商EMCO运营，该公司生产的弹药被用于乌克兰。

同月，慕尼黑一家国防公司办公室附近遭到燃烧弹袭击，罗马尼亚当局称他们拘留了一名俄罗斯公民，指控其拍摄军事设施照片，为破坏活动做准备。

8 月，意大利罗马附近一家由军火制造商 KNDS 运营的弹药厂发生爆炸。

过去三周，至少有八艘货船在罗马尼亚和保加利亚沿海遭到袭击，据报道约有 34 名船员死亡或失踪。

罗马尼亚总统丹称，发生在罗马尼亚水域的船只遇袭事件是“俄罗斯侵略乌克兰所造成的悲剧性后果的新例证”。

一年前，波兰和罗马尼亚也拘留了八名涉嫌参与俄罗斯向乌克兰寄送爆炸包裹阴谋的人。