Six Bulgarian Citizens Convicted in the UK for Spying for Russia

Six Bulgarian citizens have been convicted in the United Kingdom for spying for Russia.

The Guardian reported on this.

A London court announced the verdict on May 12. It is noted that 47-year-old Orlin Roussev, who was allegedly the leader of the spy ring and pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison for participating in six operations that endangered the national security of the UK.

His deputy, 44-year-old Biser Dzhambazov, who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 10 years and 2 months in prison.

Thirty-three-year-old Katrin Ivanova — one of two women who, according to law enforcement, was recruited by Dzhambazov for espionage purposes — was sentenced to 9 years and 8 months in prison.

The other woman, 30-year-old Vanya Gaberova, was sentenced to 6 years, 8 months, and 3 weeks in prison.

Another member of the group, 39-year-old Tihomir Ivanchev, was sentenced to 8 years in prison, taking into account his good behavior and the fact that his involvement in the spy network had ended before their arrest in 2023.

According to the publication, back in March, a jury found Gaberova, Ivanova, and Ivanchev guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage for the benefit of a “hostile state.”

Another defendant, 33-year-old Ivan Stoyanov, was sentenced to 5 years and 3 weeks in prison after pleading guilty, although, as the judge noted, this happened at a “late stage” of the investigation.

The British prosecution emphasized that the actions of the convicted individuals “endangered” people’s lives, as they were conducting surveillance “on behalf of Russian intelligence” on journalists, diplomats, and Ukrainian military personnel residing in the United Kingdom.

The convicted individuals were informed that they would need to serve half of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole, after which they would be automatically deported to Bulgaria.

Militarnyi previously reported the arrest in Greece of a Russian spy who had been monitoring the movement of military cargo being sent to Ukraine.