Romanian intelligence

Calin Georgescu, the unexpected frontrunner in Romania's presidential elections, has pledged to halt all support for Ukraine if he secures victory in the upcoming runoff against pro-European candidate Elena Lasconi.

Romania's ambassador to Washington, George Maior, a former director of the Romanian intelligence service, faces an uncertain future after MPs grilled him on Wednesday in parliament over his statements about former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his lobbying activities.

A Moscow court has approved the arrest of a Moldovan-born executive of the Russian energy company Inter RAO, for allegedly spying for Romania, Russia's state news agency Tass reported. 

Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who stands accused of sexual harassment and rape by scores of women, hired private investigators from an Israeli firm, whose agents were jailed in Romania for spying on the country's chief anti-graft prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, New Yorker magazine reported Tuesday.

Romania's former president, Ion Iliescu, has said in an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel that between 2002 and 2003 he approved "in principle" a US request for the CIA  to set up a centre in Romania.

A Romanian court has ruled that the alleged followers of the Islamic State group, ISIS, represented a danger to the security of the country and ordered their expulsion.

They were prohibited from returning to the country for between three to seven years, Romania's internal intelligence agency, SRI, said in a statement on Saturday.

"European governments that cooperated with the CIA's secret detention, interrogation and torture operations as part of the USA's global 'war on terror' must act urgently to bring those responsible to justice following a US Senate report containing new details," Amnesty International said in a briefing paper published on Monday.

Romanian intelligence services are among the highest performing within NATO and appreciated accordingly, Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean told news website DC News on Thursday.