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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Pjotr Sauer and Andrei Popoviciu

BIZARRE: Kremlin linked operatives scramble to stop extradition of mercenary accused of plotting coup - What They Never Told You

Horatiu Potra, December 12, 2024
Horațiu Potra was arrested at Dubai airport on 24 September alongside his son and nephew as they prepared to board a flight to Moscow. Photograph: Andreea Alexandru

Russian figures close to the Kremlin are mounting a last-minute attempt to halt the extradition from Dubai of a Romanian-French mercenary wanted in Romania for plotting a coup, the Guardian can reveal.

Horațiu Potra, a shadowy former French Foreign Legionnaire, was arrested at Dubai airport on 24 September alongside his son and nephew as they prepared to board a flight to Moscow. Romanian investigators had accused the men of conspiring with Potra’s ally, the far-right politician Călin Georgescu, to “overthrow the constitutional order”.

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