Three Bulgarian citizens found guilty of spying for Russia in Britain

In London, a jury at Englandʼs Central Criminal Court found three Bulgarian citizens — Vanya Gaberova, Katrin Ivanova, and Tikhomir Ivanchev — guilty of spying for Russia.

The Guardian writes about this.

According to the investigation, the suspects were monitoring The Insider editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov and investigator Christo Grozev in Europe.

The surveillance was organized by Jan Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of the payment company Wirecard, and is believed to be the head of the spy group. In 2021-2022, people he hired spied on investigators, organized the robbery of Grozevʼs apartment, and discussed the possible kidnapping or murder of journalists.

The spy group consisted of at least six people. The jury found Vanya Gaberova, Katrin Ivanova, and Tikhomir Ivanchev guilty. Three other defendants had previously pleaded guilty in court. In addition to espionage, Ivanova was convicted of possessing several forged passports. According to the indictment, all members of the group received money for their work.

Gaberova, Ivanova, and Ivanchev were also charged with collecting information about Ukrainian servicemen who were training at a US military base in Germany. The investigation says that the defendants collected the servicemenʼs license plates and monitored them.

The trial in the case of espionage for Russia began in November last year. According to the prosecution, a group of five Bulgarian citizens carried out six espionage operations for Russia in the UK and other European countries from August 2020 to February 2023.

• The detention of five Bulgarian citizens first became officially known in September 2023.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.