SRI spokesperson Ovidiu Marincea, following the attempted sabotage at the Carfil plant: “We are not afraid, but we are concerned and view with responsibility the escalations Russia has recently been carrying out”

Russia uses networks of intermediaries and social media platforms to recruit vulnerable citizens for acts of sabotage against targets in Romania, said SRI spokesperson Ovidiu Marincea in an interview with Antena 3 CNN.

According to the official, recruitment may begin with an apparently mundane request, such as photographing a military target, in exchange for a considerable sum of money. The targets may include energy infrastructure, industrial sites, and military facilities. The people approached generally have financial, criminal, or social integration problems—vulnerabilities exploited by Russian coordinators.

Since 2024, SRI has made public four cases of sabotage investigated in Romania. Marincea specified that the perpetrators are not trained spies, but rather individuals recruited and coordinated through complex networks. The operations may involve citizens of third-party states, so that the Russian origin can be concealed and the actions can be attributed to other countries.

The SRI official also spoke about the difficulties intelligence services face in preventing these attacks and conveyed a clear message: SRI is not afraid of Russia, but is following Moscow’s actions with concern. My final message would be: “no, we are not afraid, but we are concerned and are responsibly observing the escalations that Russia has recently been carrying out”