UK jails 6 Bulgarians in major Russian spy ring bust

LONDON

A group of six Bulgarian nationals living in the UK have been sentenced to a combined total of more than 50 years in prison following a three-month trial at the Old Bailey for their involvement in a large-scale spying operation across Europe on behalf of Russia.

They include two women -- Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30 — and 39-year-old competitive swimmer Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, the Metropolitan Police said Monday.

“The strength of the investigation into the group’s surveillance operations left the ringleaders – Orlin Roussev and Bizer Dzhambazov – with no option but to plead guilty to the charges they faced,” said Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

“As shown in footage from his initial interviews, Roussev firmly denied carrying out any espionage activity for Russia. However, before he was due to stand trial, he admitted that he had been part of the conspiracy to spy,” he added.

“This was in large part due to the detailed analysis of more than 200,000 digital messages and hundreds of items seized from Roussev’s home address.

“The significant jail sentences handed to the group reflect the serious threat they posed to the safety and interests of the UK, as well as targets across Europe.

“This case is a clear example of the increasing amount of state threat casework we are dealing with in the UK. It also highlights a relatively new phenomenon whereby espionage is being ‘outsourced’ by certain states," Murphy said.

The court heard that detectives from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command seized hundreds of items after a series of coordinated raids and arrests were carried out on Feb. 8, 2023.

Among the most significant finds was a 33-room former hotel owned by Roussev which contained sophisticated spying equipment including listening devices, concealed cameras, and a fake ID card printer.

Through their investigation, officers discovered that Roussev, identified as the leader of the group, was in direct contact with Jan Marsalek, an Austrian national linked to the Russian intelligence services.

Detectives identified six core espionage plots in which the group were involved. These included targeting two investigative journalists whose reporting was seen as contrary to Russian state interests.

A former senior Kazakh politician living in the UK was also a target. The group planned to stage a fake protest at the Kazakh embassy in London in order to draw out genuine dissidents of the Kazakh regime. They would then gather intelligence on the dissidents to pass to Kazakhstan, in a ploy to ingratiate Russia.

The group also carried out surveillance at a US military site in Germany, where they believed Ukrainian soldiers were being trained, and targeted another man designated as a “foreign agent” by Russia during operations in Montenegro.

Investigators were able to piece together the group's activities by analyzing thousands of digital messages alongside physical travel records, financial data, surveillance reports and footage.