A BELARUSIAN spy network allegedly being built in European countries has been broken up by intelligence services in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, according to Czech counterintelligence agency BIS.

The Czech agency said in a statement on Monday that a team of European agents had discovered spies from Belarus’s KGB security agency in several European states. 

Among them was a former deputy head of Moldovan intelligence service SIS who handed over classified information to the KGB, BIS alleged.

The Czech authorities also expelled a Belarusian agent who was operating under diplomatic cover. That person was given 72 hours to leave the Czech Republic, the Foreign Ministry said.

BIS said that Belarus had managed to create the network because its diplomats were able to travel freely between European countries.

“To successfully counter these hostile activities in Europe, we need to restrict the movement of accredited diplomats from Russia and Belarus within the Schengen area,” BIS head Michal Koudelka said in a statement.

Romanian anti-organised crime agency Diicot said that it had arrested a suspect on treason charges.

The person allegedly disclosed state secrets to Belarusian intelligence officers that were likely to “endanger national security,” Diicot stated.

The ongoing international investigation has been supervised by EU judicial co-operation agency Eurojust.