Three Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia have been found guilty of espionage charges in a trial that heard how they were involved in a string of plots around Europe directed by a fugitive based in Moscow.
After more than 32 hours of deliberations, a jury at the Old Bailey reached unanimous verdicts on Katrin Ivanova, 33, a lab technician, Vanya Gaberova, 30, a beautician, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, a painter and decorator, all of whom were living in London before their arrest.
The three were convicted for being junior members of a spy ring that was ultimately directed by Jan Marsalek, an Austrian businessman who had fled to Russia in 2020 after a company he helped to run collapsed amid a €1.9bn (£1.6bn) fraud.
Marsalek directed the hostile surveillance of Christo Grozev – an investigative journalist who had helped implicate Russian spies in the poisoning of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny – in Bulgaria, Austria and Spain. All three defendants were involved in the operation.
The spymaster also directed gang members, including Ivanova, to steal mobile phone numbers of Ukrainian troops believed to be training at a US barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, using a military-grade snooping device not previously seen in criminal hands.
Marsalek communicated directly with the ringleader, Orlin Roussev, 47, from Great Yarmouth, who in turn directed the surveillance activities from a former guesthouse in the Norfolk seaside town. The building was crammed with hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of electronic and surveillance equipment.
Roussev has already pleaded guilty to espionage charges, as has his friend and deputy, Bizer Dzhambazov, 43. But the three more junior members had denied the charge of espionage, leading to an Old Bailey trial that lasted nearly three months.
Police, however, said they were fortunate to have broken up the spy ring in February 2023, after an unknown period in which members were under surveillance by counter-terror police and MI5.
The Met said it was unaware of the gang members’ intention to travel days later to Stuttgart to try to snoop on the phone numbers when police conducted a series of pre-dawn arrests.
The head of the Met’s counter-terror division, Commander Dom Murphy, said “the core evidence was obtained from Roussev’s phone” and by identifying other key devices to retrieve 78,747 Telegram messages between Roussev and Marsalek outlining six main plots and other smaller ones.
Though Roussev was an IT specialist, he had not deleted the messages and they were not encrypted, painting a revealing picture of not just the spy ring’s activities, but the Kremlin’s interests around Europe. At one point Marsalek appeared to suggest Grozev was targeted because “apparently Putin seriously hates him”.
Counter-terror officers also said that Kremlin spying and sabotage efforts were still in operation, although largely conducted through criminals or other poorly trained proxies directed from a distance. “This won’t be the only activity Russia is conducting in the UK,” Murphy said.
The court heard that Dzhambazov was in a relationship with Ivanova, his long-term partner, as well as Gaberova for a year and a half before their arrest. The third defendant, Ivanchev, was Gaberova’s ex-boyfriend.
When police raided Gaberova’s flat, they found Dzhambazov in bed with her. Ivanova had been unaware of the relationship until after her arrest, and during the trial accused Dzhambazov of conducting “a parallel relationship” with Gaberova behind her back. Dzhambazov had also told the two women he had brain cancer, which was false.
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Ivanova tried to argue she was manipulated by Dzhambazov and was not aware she was spying for Russia, while Gaberova and Ivanchev said they thought they were working for Interpol, after Dzhambazov showed them a fake ID card.
All three were found guilty of being involved in conspiracy, contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, to commit an offence under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. It carries a maximum jail term of 14 years. Investigators traced at least €210,000 flowing from Roussev to other members of the gang.
Of the three defendants, only Ivanchev was in court. The two women were present via video link from HMP Bronzefield. Ivanova and Gaberova, both seated, remained passive and subdued as the guilty verdicts were read out. Ivanchev, standing in the dock, nodded briefly as he heard the jury’s conclusion.
Frank Ferguson, the counter-terror chief at the Crown Prosecution Service, said “this was a high-level espionage operation” with members working under Roussev’s leadership. “The police raid on Roussev’s home revealed a spy factory,” Ferguson said.
Officers seized 221 mobile phones, 495 sim cards, 258 hard drives, 33 audio recording devices, 55 surveillance cameras, 16 radios and 11 drones plus wifi eavesdroppers, electronic jammers and 75 fake passports and identity documents in 55 different names. The vast bulk were recovered in Great Yarmouth.
Ivanova was also found guilty of possessing fake passports and identity documents at her flat in Harrow, where she lived with Dzhambazov.
Mr Justice Hilliard KC, presiding, remanded the defendants into custody until sentencing between 7 May and 12 May. A sixth man, Ivan Stoyanov, 33, from Greenford in west London, was also implicated in some of the spying. He had pleaded guilty before the trial began, but this can be reported only now.
