Bulgarian spy ring working for Russia in Britain jailed

Six members of a complex Russian spy ring operating on an industrial scale” from a run-down British seaside guesthouse were jailed yesterday.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, formed part of a group that carried out surveillance on Russian dissidents and put “many lives at risk”, with plans to kidnap and kill certain targets.

In March they were found guilty of espionage for passing secrets to their Russian spymaster Jan Marsalek, former chief operating officer of collapsed payment processor Wirecard, for nearly three years in one of the most complex investigations carried out by the Met Police.

They were sentenced alongside the group’s leader Orlin Roussev, 47, Biser Dzhambazov, 44, and Ivan Stoyanov, 33, all Bulgarian nationals who admitted their roles.

The Old Bailey heard the cell gathered information on targets including a Bellingcat investigative journalist, a Kazakhstani former politician and a Russian lawyer, while the group also spied on a US army base in Germany where Ukrainian troops were said to be trained.

It is believed to be one of the “largest and most complex” enemy operations to be uncovered on UK soil.

Jailing them Mr Justice Hilliard said Roussev was involved in six "sophisticated'' operations and obtaining false identity documents, putting his offending at the top end of the scale. He was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison.

Dzhambazov was jailed for 10 years and two months. His "trusted partner'' Ivanova had "thrown in'' her lot with him "for better or worse'' and was an "enthusiastic participant for a long time'', the judge said. She was jailed for nine years and eight months.

Gaberova was jailed for six years, eight months and three weeks. Mr Justice Hilliard told her that she knew what she was doing was for Russia and had found it "exciting and glamorous".