Romania says Russia has "presence" of spies
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Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu said Friday that Russia has "a very solid presence" of spies in his country, in unusually outspoken remarks about alleged Russian espionage.
"I don't know in figures, but we can feel a very solid presence" of Russian spies, Melescanu said in the first direct comment of late made by a high-level Romanian official on the topic.
Relations between Romania and Russia, which are generally cool, strained further this week after Romania expelled one Russian diplomat over the nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal. Russia responded in kind.
Russia's ambassador to Romania Valery Kuzmin called the expulsion of Russian diplomats "the manifestation of collective political madness," but Melescanu responded Friday that "the madness was the attack in Salisbury."
Melescanu headed Romania's foreign espionage agency from 2012 to 2014.
