In December 1971, following an informative note from Ion Stănescu, the President of the Council of State Security of the Romanian Socialist Republic, to Yuri Andropov, the chief of KGB, Alexandru Usatiuc-Bulgăr as well as Valeriu Graur (n. December 1940, Reni), Alexandru Şoltoianu, and Gheorghe Ghimpu were arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms.