Abstract The Vrancea slab, Romania, is a subducted remnant of the Tethyan lithosphere characterized by a significant intermediate-depth seismicity (60–170 km). A recent study showed a correlation between this seismicity and major dehydration reactions, involving serpentine minerals up to 130 km depth, and high-pressure hydrated talc deeper. Here we investigate the potential link between the triggering mechanisms and the retrieved focal mechanisms of 940 earthquakes, which allows interpreting the depth distribution of the stress field. We observe a switch from horizontal compression to vertical extension between 100 and 130 km depth, where the Clapeyron slope of serpentine dehydration is negative. The negative volume change within dehydrating serpentinized faults, expected mostly sub-horizontal in the verticalized slab, could well explain the vertical extension recorded by the intermediate-depth seismicity. This apparent slab pull is accompanied with a rotation of the main compressive stress, which could favour slab detachments in active subduction zones.