On Tuesday evening, October 20, the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) issued a rare press release rejecting a theory posed by former presidential adviser Ludovic Orban. According to the politician, SRI had brokered a deal that would have the Social Democratic Party (PSD) back sitting president Nicușor Dan for a second mandate during the next presidential elections.
Orban explained his theory that the Social Democrats would support Dan in the next presidential election, and in return, they would receive the government. SRI and the Protection and Guard Service (SPP) would have vouched for the Social Democrats, supposedly guaranteeing that the “party was in it for the long haul.”
Orban’s statements were made during an interview for the Romanian state TV station TVR. The former presidential adviser also said that SRI chief General Răzvan Ionescu was unknown and that he “runs the SRI on the sly,” according to G4Media.
Shortly after the show ended, the SRI posted a rare response on the institution’s Facebook page.
“Following the statements made by Mr. Ludovic Orban on public television on October 20, the SRI considers the repeated public dissemination of unfounded accusations, attributing political involvement to the institution without any evidence, to be regrettable and irresponsible,” the agency said.
SRI also noted that “the political failure or success of certain political formations or individuals” has been routinely attributed to it without merit.
“As regards the interim leadership of the SRI, it is neither secret nor outside the law. And certainly not ‘on the sly.’ The identity of the person serving as interim head is public, and the legality of exercising the position is not a matter of opinion, but is in accordance with the law,” the institution noted.
After numerous comments criticizing the service and the response, SRI limited who could comment on the post.
The SRI has been under the interim leadership of General Răzvan Ionescu since July 2023. At a press conference on July 30, 2025, president Nicușor Dan said he would appoint heads of the intelligence services “after a discussion with the parties, in the coming weeks.” The president has yet to do so.
Reacting to the SRI press release, Liberal MP Alexandru Muraru said on Wednesday, October 21, that the statements made by the agency were “a serious mistake and an unforgivable institutional outburst, almost without precedent.”
“Such a reaction risks harming both the person targeted, the credibility of the Service, the reputation of the professionals working at this institution and, above all, public trust in the political neutrality of intelligence services (…) The SRI’s mission is not to engage in public battles with one politician or another, to issue certificates of political responsibility, or to sanction the rhetoric of former or current officials. Its mission is to defend Romania’s national security, the state, and its citizens,” Muraru stated.
Cătălin Drulă, an MP from the reformist Save Romania Union (USR), also strongly criticized the SRI’s statement.
“The barely veiled threats in the message reveal the anti-democratic reflexes of those running this institution. If our country had a leader who valued freedom of expression, pluralism, and the values of liberal democracy, tomorrow he should fire General Ionescu for this act of intimidation, worthy of illiberal regimes,” Drulă wrote on Facebook.
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