London Court Sentences Six Bulgarian Citizens for Espionage Activities Linked to Russia

A court in London has announced the final verdict for six Bulgarian citizens previously found guilty of working for Russian intelligence, Orda.kz reports, citing Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg, all members of the group received prison sentences.

The lead defendant, 46-year-old Orlin Rusev, was sentenced to ten years and eight months. He was convicted of coordinating the actions of the group. Rusev had also set up a room equipped with advanced surveillance tools, described in foreign media as resembling “Indiana Jones’ garage.”

Rusev received instructions from the former head of the Wirecard payment system, Jan Marsalek. Two of his accomplices, Biser Dzhambazov and Ivan Stoyanov, previously pleaded guilty to espionage.

Dzhambazov and Stoyanov were sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison.

Jan Marsalek, alleged to have worked with Russian intelligence services, financed the group’s operations and directed their activities through Telegram. Marsalek was not tried in court, as his whereabouts have been unknown since 2020.

The other members — Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova, and Tihomir Ivanchev — received prison terms ranging from five to ten years.

The group was found to have gathered information on a U.S. military base in Germany where Ukrainian soldiers were receiving training. They were also involved in plans to target investigative journalists, including a reported plot against journalist Hristo Grozev.

Among the planned operations was a staged protest outside the Kazakh embassy in the United Kingdom. The intention, as reported by Bloomberg, was to simulate unrest and then expose it, passing fabricated information to Kazakh security services.

The group also allegedly planned an assassination attempt against Bergey Ryskaliyev, the former Akim of the Atyrau region, who resides in London after being accused of large-scale embezzlement in Kazakhstan.

The aim of these actions, according to the investigation, was to present them as intelligence contributions to the Kazakh authorities. However, none of the plans were carried out.

Earlier, a London court had already found those members of the group guilty who had not cooperated with the investigation.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny