6 Bulgarians convicted in the UK of spying for Russia across Europe face sentencing
LONDON (AP) — The Russian spy ring used code names from the movies, with the ringleader calling himself Jackie Chan and his sidekick Mad Max, or Jean-Claude Van Damme. Their underlings were dubbed “Minions” from the animated “Despicable Me” franchise.
But police said their fanciful pseudonyms masked a deadly serious operation in the United Kingdom and around Europe.
“Behind those nicknames was an extremely sophisticated intelligence-gathering operation that posed a threat to national security and individuals, including journalists,” Cmdr. Dominic Murphy, counterterrorism chief at London’s Metropolitan Police, said after three members of the ring were convicted at trial in March.
“This was industrial-scale espionage on behalf of Russia,” Murphy added.
On Wednesday afternoon, the six Bulgarian nationals face the start of a multiday sentencing hearing in London’s Central Criminal Court that could put them behind bars for up to 14 years in prison for espionage convictions.
Orlin Roussev, 47, and his lieutenant Biser Dzhambazov, 44, pleaded guilty to espionage charges and having false identity documents. Ivan Stoyanov, 33, a mixed martial arts fighter, admitted to spying for Russia.
Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were convicted by a jury in March of conspiring to spy for an enemy state.
Prosecutors said they put lives in danger as they carried out surveillance on behalf of Russian intelligence to target reporters, diplomats and Ukrainian troops.
The defendants carried out operations in the U.K., Austria, Spain, and Montenegro between 2020 and 2023. They spied on a U.S. air base in Germany where they believed Ukrainian troops were training, and discussed kidnapping or killing Kremlin opponents.
Roussev worked for alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, an Austrian national who is wanted by Interpol for fraud and embezzlement after the 2020 collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard, prosecutors said. His whereabouts are unknown.
In one operation, a group of them tried to lure a Bulgarian journalist who uncovered Moscow’s involvement in the 2018 Novichok poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury, England, into a “honeytrap” romance with Gaberova.
The spies followed Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev from Vienna to a conference in Valencia, Spain, and the gang’s ringleaders discussed robbing and killing him, or kidnapping him and taking him to Russia.
Roussev, who worked out of a former guesthouse in the English seaside resort town of Great Yarmouth, harbored a trove of spy equipment that police described as “Aladdin’s Cave” when it was raided.
They discovered loads of spy cameras, hidden in sunglasses, pens, neckties and cuddly toys that included a Minion. Technology used to jam wifi and GPS signals were found, along with eavesdropping devices and car trackers.
Dzhambazov, who worked for a medical courier company but claimed to be an Interpol police officer, was in a relationship with both the women — his laboratory assistant partner Ivanova and beautician Gaberova.
Gaberova, in turn, had ditched painter-decorator Ivanchev for Dzhambazov, who took her to Michelin-starred restaurants and stayed with her in a five-star hotel. When police moved in to arrest the suspects in February 2023, they found Dzhambazov naked in bed with Gaberova rather than at home with Ivanova.
Both women claimed during the trial that they had been deceived and manipulated by Dzhambazov.
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