Romania's foreign ministry refused to make any immediate comment Monday after Russia's FSB security agency detained a senior Romanian diplomat for spying, local television reported.

"All I can say to you is that the ministry of foreign affairs is not commenting on this subject," ministry spokesman Doris Mircea was quoted as telling private Realitatea TV by telephone.

Russia's FSB said Monday that it had detained Gabriel Grecu, first secretary of the Romanian embassy's political department, during an alleged attempt to receive secret military information from a Russian citizen.

The agency -- the modern-day successor to the Soviet-era KGB -- said it had confiscated items of spying equipment and added that it was carrying out an investigation.

Russia has declared the senior Romanian diplomat "persona non grata" and said he should leave the country within the next 48 hours, the FSB added.

The Romanian embassy in Moscow also could not immediately comment when contacted by AFP.

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