The Tanase Affair. Playing Tag With Death

In January 1982, Ceausescu asks one of his agents to kill two Romanian dissidents in Paris, writers Virgil Tanase and Paul Goma both French citizens. Instead Matei Haiducu, the Securitate agent, known as Matthieu Forestier went directly to DST. French services then prepared one of the most incredible operations during the Cold War. They kidnapped Virgil Tanase in order to make Securitate believe that their agent fulfilled his mission. President Mitterrand aware of the secret operation made a public announcement in which he cancelled his official visit to Romania, thus giving the story of the kidnapping a character of authenticity. The plan failed due to a leak of information in the press started by judge Jean-Louis Debré. In order to defend themselves, the secret agent and the two potential victims organised a press conference and revealed the case.