In London, the jury of the Central Criminal Court of England found three Bulgarian citizens — Vanya Gaberova, Katrin Ivanova, and Tihomir Ivanchev — guilty of espionage in the interest of Russia under the leadership of a fugitive criminal hiding in Moscow, writes Guardian. They face up to 14 years in prison. Ivanova was also found guilty of possessing fake passports and identity documents.
All three were part of a spy group led by Jan Marsalek, an Austrian businessman who fled to Russia in 2020. Marsalek communicated directly with 47-year-old Orlin Rusev from Great Yarmouth, who, in turn, directed surveillance from a former boarding house in the seaside town of Norfolk. The building was packed with electronic and surveillance equipment worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
This group is suspected of conducting espionage operations in the UK and other European countries. In particular, the Bulgarian citizens were found guilty of surveilling investigative journalist Christo Grozev, whom the group members planned to kill or abduct. They were also tasked with stealing mobile phone numbers of Ukrainian military personnel who are believed to be training in American barracks in Stuttgart.
Rusev has already pleaded guilty to espionage, as has his deputy, 43-year-old Bizer Djambazov. But the three young members denied the espionage charges, leading to a trial at the Old Bailey that lasted almost three months.
According to the prosecution, the group of five Bulgarian citizens carried out six espionage operations in the interest of Russia in the UK and other European countries from August 2020 to February 2023.
Head of the counter-terrorism police department Dom Murphy stated that «the main evidence was obtained from Rusev's phone», with a total of 78,747 Telegram messages found between Rusev and Marsalek, describing six main plots and other smaller ones.
During searches, police seized 221 mobile phones, 495 sim cards, 258 hard drives, 33 audio recording devices, 55 surveillance cameras, 16 radios, and 11 drones, as well as Wi-Fi listening devices, electronic jammers, and 75 fake passports and identity documents under 55 different names. Most were found in Great Yarmouth at Rusev's house.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».