The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Thursday the conviction of a Romanian citizen in the Russian Federation, in a case that has been monitored since December 2024.
"We confirm the conviction of the Romanian citizen. We have been following the case since December 2024. We have repeatedly requested the Russian side, both in Bucharest and in Moscow, to facilitate access to the Romanian national for providing consular assistance, in accordance with the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. So far, the Russian side has not responded to our repeated requests. We are also in contact with the citizen's family to provide them with information about his situation. At this moment, for the efficient management of the case, we cannot provide further details," the Ministry stated.
A Romanian was sentenced on Thursday by a court in southern Russia's Krasnodar region to 15 years in prison for allegedly spying for Ukraine, according to the Russian court, Reuters and AFP report.
In a Telegram post, the Krasnodar court's press service said that the man, identified as Adrian-David Chercio, collected and passed information to Ukraine about air-defense installations in the resort city of Sochi.
He was found guilty of having contacted "on his own initiative", in November 2024, an employee of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) and sending information about Russian forces, the court said.
The Sochi branch of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on April 25, 2025 that it had detained a Romanian citizen born in 2002, whom it accused of spying for Ukrainian intelligence services. The FSB said that in the summer of 2024, acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence, the detainee collected and transmitted information about the locations of air-defense installations in Sochi.
In exchange, Ukrainian intelligence allegedly promised to help him leave Russia safely and join a volunteer unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to take part in combat operations against Russia.
After his arrest, the FSB's Investigative Department in the Krasnodar region opened a criminal case against him for espionage, under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Comentează