Planned attacks by a pro-Russian mercenary group in the Romanian capital Bucharest have been thwarted. Romanian police managed to arrest 14 suspects, including the leader of the group, the Romanian-French Horatiu Potra.
During the search of the group members’ vehicles, the police found and confiscated several firearms, axes, swords, machetes and knives as well as illegal drugs.
The group, which was actively involved in the Congolese civil war and has links to the Russian mercenary group Wagner, was captured by police on the way to Bucharest in the province of Ilfov.
Potra is known for his open support for Calin Georgescu, the ultranationalist candidate who won the first round of the presidential elections on November 24, as well as for his pro-Russian sympathies.
On Friday, the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled the run-off of the presidential elections scheduled for Sunday as well as the results of the first round of the elections on November 24. This came after the Supreme Council for National Defense released intelligence documents on Wednesday revealing the interference of a “state actor” in Romania’s electoral process.
The documents also revealed the network behind the ultra-nationalist independent candidate Calin Georges.
On the same day, President Klaus Iohannis said that Georgescu was supported by a foreign state, citing evidence collected and presented to him by the relevant security and intelligence services./TheGeopost
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