Two of them admitted yesterday in court that they spied for Russia
Bulgarian Orlin Rusev and Austrian Jan Marsalek discussed the kidnapping and murder of investigative journalist Hristo Grozev. This was reported by the BBC and the Guardian during the espionage trial against six of our compatriots, which is being held at the Central Criminal Court – Old Bailey, in London.
The defendants in the case are Orlin Rusev, Biser Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova, Tihomir Ivanchev and Ivan Stoyanov. Two of them – Rusev and Dzhambazov, admitted yesterday in court that they were part of a spy network in favor of Russia. According to investigators, the group carried out tasks for the Russian special services, including data collection and surveillance in the UK, Germany, Austria, Spain and Montenegro.
In its latest material, the BBC focuses on Rusev, who it says was involved in plans for the potential murder of Hristo Grozev from the Bellingcat website. The Bulgarian, considered the leader of the group, received instructions from the Russian spy, otherwise an Austrian citizen, Jan Marsalek. The spies monitored Grozev not only on the Island, but also in Vienna, Montenegro and Valencia.
Marsalek and Rusev exchanged nearly 79,000 messages via Telegram during their cooperation between August 2020 and last February. The police found technical equipment in the homes of the accused, including 221 mobile phones and 495 SIM cards, as well as audio and video recording devices, drones, and listening devices.
The Times also reports that the Austrian paid Rusev for the espionage operations. The Bulgarian also provided special surveillance equipment to Jan Marsalek, who is wanted in Germany after the collapse of the Wirecard company, through which nearly $2 billion was stolen. In 2020, the entrepreneur fled on a private plane to Minsk and is believed to have been taken to Moscow by Russian foreign intelligence.
Among the group’s targets, in addition to Grozev, were Russian dissident and founder of the Insider media outlet Roman Dobrokhotov and Kazakh politician Bergey Riskaliev, who was granted political asylum in the UK. Among those monitored by the Bulgarians is lawyer Kiril Kachur during a stay in Montenegro between September 2021 and January 2022. Russia declared him a “foreign agent” in November 2023.
The spies’ base was a hotel in the British town of Great Yarmouth, owned by 46-year-old Rusev, who has lived in the UK since 2009.
The Times also writes that the ladies Catherine Ivanova and Vanya Gaberova were used as a trap to attract journalists, dissidents and people from whom to extract information, describing complex relationships between the members of the group. Biser Dzhambazov, 43, was in a love triangle with Ivanova, 33, and Gaberova, 30, who had a previous relationship with Tihomir Ivanchev, the prosecutor in the case added, warning that the defendants could “use the connections” to claim that they were deceived and did not know they were carrying out espionage activities.
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