{"id":13525,"date":"2026-09-08T19:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/13525\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T19:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:22:07","slug":"romania-detains-a-russian-man-accused-of-scouting-military-bases-used-by-nato-allies-and-critical-infrastructure-for-an-alleged-sabotage-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/13525\/","title":{"rendered":"Romania detains a\u00a0Russian man accused of\u00a0scouting military bases used by\u00a0NATO allies and critical infrastructure for an\u00a0alleged sabotage plot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romanian authorities have detained a\u00a040-year-old Russian citizen suspected of\u00a0plotting an\u00a0act of\u00a0sabotage in\u00a0the country, according to\u00a0Romanian news outlet\u00a0Digi24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Romanian Intelligence Service said the man had been under surveillance since February 2026. As\u00a0part of\u00a0the alleged sabotage plot, he\u00a0followed instructions from an\u00a0intermediary and photographed Romanian military equipment, military bases used by\u00a0NATO allies, communications hubs, and critical infrastructure sites. He\u00a0also filmed Ukrainian Antonov cargo aircraft while they were in\u00a0Romania.<\/p>\n

The intelligence service said the suspect\u2019s methods resembled those used elsewhere in\u00a0Europe by\u00a0sabotage networks coordinated by\u00a0Russian entities. The intelligence service said it\u00a0thwarted the plot in\u00a0cooperation with other agencies, including intelligence services in\u00a0partner countries.<\/p>\n

Authorities have not named the detainee.\u00a0Newsweek Romania<\/a>\u00a0identified him as\u00a0Ivan Kutsenko. Agentstvo, which reviewed leaked records,\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Kutsenko is\u00a0from Novosibirsk. In\u00a02009, Kutsenko, his brother and another man were implicated in\u00a0a\u00a0robbery case. According to\u00a0the case files, the three men abducted someone and drove him to\u00a0a\u00a0field, where they used a\u00a0less-lethal weapon to\u00a0rob him of\u00a0his phone, 250 rubles, and a\u00a0sweater. Journalists could not determine how the case ended or\u00a0whether Kutsenko went to\u00a0trial.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Agentstvo, Kutsenko flew to\u00a0Romania several times in\u00a02019 and 2021 and to\u00a0neighboring Moldova in\u00a02020, all before Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of\u00a0Ukraine. After the invasion began, he\u00a0flew to\u00a0Turkey at\u00a0least once.<\/p>\n

At\u00a0Meduza, we\u00a0are committed to\u00a0transparency about our use of\u00a0artificial intelligence in\u00a0the newsroom. The story you\u2019re reading was written by\u00a0one of\u00a0our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an\u00a0AI\u00a0model configured to\u00a0follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is\u00a0the result of\u00a0extensive testing and refinements to\u00a0ensure our English-language coverage is\u00a0timely and accurate. A\u00a0Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0you find any errors in\u00a0this translation, please contact us\u00a0at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To\u00a0read Meduza\u2019s exclusive content in\u00a0English, please subscribe to\u00a0our newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Romanian authorities have detained a\u00a040-year-old Russian citizen suspected of\u00a0plotting an\u00a0act of\u00a0sabotage in\u00a0the country, according to\u00a0Romanian news outlet\u00a0Digi24. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[584,579,582,571,564,576,566,577,583,572,560,567,561,569,570,562,565,563,581,575,568,580,578,574,573],"class_list":["post-13525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-584","tag-579","tag-582","tag-571","tag-564","tag-576","tag-566","tag-577","tag-583","tag-572","tag-560","tag-567","tag-561","tag-569","tag-570","tag-562","tag-565","tag-563","tag-581","tag-575","tag-568","tag-580","tag-578","tag-574","tag-573"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}