14 DAY TRIAL // A Romanian diplomat was detained and accused of military espionage by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) yesterday, after allegedly trying to buy military information from a Russian citizen. Gabriel Grecu, the Romanian Secretary for the Political Department at the Romanian Embassy in Moscow, was declared persona non grata (unwelcome person) in Russia and was given 48 hours to leave the country.
A lot of publications improperly reported that Grecu was arrested, however, under Articles 41 and 42 of the Vienna Convention, diplomats are protected from prosecution if they violate the civil or criminal laws of another state.
According to the FSB, Grecu was taken into custody temporarily after being caught trying to procure military information from a Russian citizen.
The service also claims that equipment specifically used in espionage was found in his possession, but does not go into further details.
"Items of spying equipment that fully reveal his hostile activity against Russia have been confiscated from the intelligence officer," a FSB spokesman told AFP.
The FSB says Grecu was an undercover agent for the Romanian Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) and was therefore incompatible with his diplomatic status.
The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to issue any public statement regarding the incident for the time being, but political analysts in the country have some theories as to what might have triggered it.
First, some point out that in cases of espionage involving diplomats it's very unusual for them to be detained or named in the media. They are usually just declared persona non grata and asked to leave the country immediately.
According to the analysts, one possible explanation is that Russia is trying to show the rest of the world that there are foreign intelligence officers also operating within its territory, after recently being outed in the recent US spy scandal.
Others think this is a response to Romania expelling three Russian diplomats last year for allegedly being involved in an espionage case where a sub-officer from the Romanian Defense Ministry was caught selling military secrets to Ukraine.
In a different theory Russia is trying to make a point to Romania, after the NATO country agreed to host anti-ballistic missile interceptors, as part of the U.S. defense shield.
The fact that Romania is openly supporting the pro-European administration of its neighbour Republic of Moldavia, which recently asked Russia to withdraw its troops from Transnistria, doesn't help the relations between the two nations either.