The grouping of those accused of treason aimed to obtain, with the help of external factors, Romania's withdrawal from NATO, the dissolution of the parties and the adoption of a new constitution

DIICOT has detained six people on suspicion of treason in a case involving links with foreign agents, including Russian agents. The case involves charges of undermining the sovereignty and independence of the state. The defendants are part of the self-styled "Vlad Tepes" Command, a group set up and developed along military lines.

Cristian Bacain with details of the case: "Four of the defendants are to be presented today to the judge of rights and freedoms at the Bucharest Court of Appeal with a proposal for preventive arrest. For the other two, prosecutors are requesting house arrest. According to DIICOT, they have on several occasions been in contact with agents of a foreign power, both in our country and in Russia.

The group is accused of using foreign factors to obtain Romania's withdrawal from NATO, the disbanding of parties and the adoption of a new constitution. They also wanted to change the country's flag, anthem and even its name from Romania to Getia. One of the defendants, Robert Adrian Dinu, founder of the "Vlad Tepes" Commandery and member of other organizations such as the "Everything for Fatherland, Everything for the People!" group appears in the pictures with the former ambassador of the Russian Federation.

"The system must be shaken and for that we have the blessing of the Russian Federation", he said in an online post. According to information in the case file, in January, two of the defendants also traveled to Moscow, where they got in touch with people willing to support the organization's moves to seize state power. The DIICOT investigators also say that the group was formed around a former general in the form of a military structure with a general staff and executive personnel.

According to judicial sources, it would be retired major general Radu Theodoru, also known as a writer, now aged 101, a veteran of the Second World War. Thursday's arrests come after prosecutors on Wednesday raided eight suspects' homes in Bucharest and the counties of Ilfov, Giurgiu and Maramures, where they identified and seized several pieces of evidence. The prosecutors had the support of officers from the Directorate of Counter Intelligence and Military Security, the Romanian Intelligence Service and the General Directorate of Internal Protection of the Ministry of Interior."

Also in connection with this file, the Romanian Intelligence Service reported that the two Russian diplomats, yesterday declared inadmissible by the Foreign Ministry, have undertaken actions in support of the six Romanians accused of treason. In order to achieve their destabilizing objectives, representatives of the group actively solicited support from officers of the Russian Embassy, the Romanian Intelligence Service said in a statement.

Translated by: Radu Matei