Romania Summons Russian Ambassador Over Brasov Fire as Prosecutors Say Two Suspects Were Arrested in Germany

Romania has taken the Brasov County arson case to Russia's ambassador. The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, Oct. 27, that it summoned the diplomat in Bucharest and handed him the evidence gathered in the investigation into the Sept. 14 fire.

"The Romanian side underscored the unacceptable nature of these actions and the gravity of their implications for national security and the safety of citizens," the ministry said.

Arrests in Germany, warrant for Poland

The criminal case is moving across borders. DIICOT, Romania's anti-organized crime agency, said Monday, Oct. 26, that three foreign nationals are under investigation: two Belarusians and one Ukrainian, all residing in EU countries.

Two of them were arrested in Germany while "preparing to commit similar acts," DIICOT said. A European arrest warrant was issued Monday for the third, who is in Poland. Romanian authorities are seeking extradition of all three.

These are the agency's allegations. No trial has taken place and no court has ruled on guilt.

The Romanian Intelligence Service released video it says shows the attack. A person climbs the ladder of a building's fire escape. There are brief flashes, then flames engulf the structure. Two people are then seen cycling away.

Authorities said the fire damaged the premises of several commercial entities.

Bucharest's political response

President Nicusor Dan went further than the diplomats. In a Facebook post he said he condemned "in the strongest possible terms" any Russian involvement in sabotage on Romanian soil. He called the plot "a grave violation of our country's sovereignty and security."

Dan described the fire as one piece of a longer campaign. "This hybrid war has been ongoing for years, taking various forms, all with the same objective: to weaken European states from within and to erode the solidarity among them," he said. He listed election interference, disinformation, cyberattacks and sabotage.

The intelligence service said its data showed the network's missions "were not limited to Romania." It alleged Russia had assigned the network a wide range of targets across the region, including state-owned and private arms manufacturing facilities and other sites of military and industrial interest.

Romanian Prime Minister Luca Niculescu said authorities had dismantled a Russian sabotage network targeting the defense industry. "I consider such attacks unacceptable," he said.

Russia's position

Russia did not immediately comment on the Brasov allegations. Moscow has repeatedly denied conducting sabotage plots against European countries.

The denial matters legally as well as diplomatically. A European Broadcasting Union investigation published Oct. 23 mapped incidents reported between April 1 and Oct. 15 that have been publicly linked to Russia, and it stressed that the degree of attribution "varies considerably" and many cases remain under investigation. The map does not establish Russian responsibility for every incident it records.

In Germany, the Federal Criminal Police Office has registered a mid-three-digit number of suspected sabotage and reconnaissance cases since the start of 2026. Only a small share has been publicly attributed to Russia.

The Munich case shows the difficulty. Two Bulgarian nationals allegedly threw incendiary devices from a moving car onto a construction site near several defense firms. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann and state investigators said political motives were being considered, and investigators reportedly suspect the GRU. None of that has been established in court.

That is the problem with "disposable agents": people recruited for narrow jobs with no intelligence training and no long relationship with a service. Catching the arsonist is one thing. Proving who paid him is another.

A pattern across the continent

Poland's foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, told CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS that the attacks are "constant." He listed assassinations in Poland, Britain and Germany, arsons, an attempted train bombing and armed drones over Lithuania and at Leipzig airport. He said it is known which GRU unit is responsible.

Sikorski also said Europe will not copy Moscow. "We don't send drones or terrorists into Russia because we are peaceful democracies," he said.

UK Armed Forces Minister Louise Sandher-Jones told Parliament that Russia is conducting "a campaign of hybrid attacks and sabotage across Europe." She said Britain does not seek confrontation but will "deter and contest" threats to Euro-Atlantic security.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Reuters that the Baltic states, Finland and Poland have prepared mentally for decades, but that "the Western part of European societies, they are not ready." He said "Russia is looking very carefully at how we react."

Olena Tregub, head of Ukraine's Independent Anti-Corruption Commission, told Al Jazeera that deterrence means convincing an adversary the operations will become too costly. "I'm not sure Russia currently sees those costs as sufficiently high," she said.

The Brasov case tests that. Whether Germany and Poland hand over the three suspects, and whether a Romanian court can tie them to a Russian handler with evidence that stands up at trial, will show whether the legal route reaches anyone above the arsonists.

The Romanian evidence has now been put in front of Russia's ambassador. Russia did not immediately comment on the allegations.