The Prague Post - Six Bulgarians face long UK jail terms for spying for Russia

EUR -
AED 4.106389
AFN 78.818229
ALL 98.550917
AMD 433.76762
ANG 2.000837
AOA 1025.193701
ARS 1264.990691
AUD 1.739051
AWG 2.012376
AZN 1.902847
BAM 1.949299
BBD 2.260203
BDT 136.007051
BGN 1.953741
BHD 0.421433
BIF 3281.291051
BMD 1.117987
BND 1.451984
BOB 7.735411
BRL 6.304217
BSD 1.119387
BTN 95.396458
BWP 15.198588
BYN 3.663349
BYR 21912.539898
BZD 2.248542
CAD 1.56256
CDF 3208.622173
CHF 0.940914
CLF 0.027421
CLP 1052.283208
CNY 8.056604
CNH 8.0615
COP 4703.090674
CRC 568.514285
CUC 1.117987
CUP 29.626648
CVE 109.89753
CZK 24.929962
DJF 198.68854
DKK 7.461287
DOP 65.793587
DZD 149.010876
EGP 56.334907
ERN 16.769801
ETB 148.624943
FJD 2.538048
FKP 0.842009
GBP 0.842973
GEL 3.063551
GGP 0.842009
GHS 13.919172
GIP 0.842009
GMD 81.051047
GNF 9677.293385
GTQ 8.600013
GYD 234.1932
HKD 8.724383
HNL 28.787736
HRK 7.532325
HTG 146.472851
HUF 403.246684
IDR 18524.425215
ILS 3.973923
IMP 0.842009
INR 95.574505
IQD 1464.562616
IRR 47081.221819
ISK 145.137269
JEP 0.842009
JMD 178.664189
JOD 0.792991
JPY 163.96837
KES 144.782901
KGS 97.768141
KHR 4494.306495
KMF 492.333415
KPW 1006.216549
KRW 1577.423135
KWD 0.343915
KYD 0.932806
KZT 568.693171
LAK 24162.516557
LBP 100171.610611
LKR 334.187045
LRD 223.152685
LSL 20.426169
LTL 3.301124
LVL 0.676259
LYD 6.159823
MAD 10.398955
MDL 19.522246
MGA 5064.480324
MKD 61.487521
MMK 2347.082197
MNT 3999.761415
MOP 8.998553
MRU 44.327796
MUR 51.317926
MVR 17.272916
MWK 1940.825081
MXN 21.672597
MYR 4.805076
MZN 71.444311
NAD 20.425656
NGN 1789.404469
NIO 41.085954
NOK 11.618621
NPR 152.642697
NZD 1.896661
OMR 0.430411
PAB 1.119337
PEN 4.103036
PGK 4.546013
PHP 62.456344
PKR 315.243135
PLN 4.23309
PYG 8937.196171
QAR 4.070147
RON 5.104055
RSD 116.822509
RUB 89.849789
RWF 1603.481383
SAR 4.193169
SBD 9.340069
SCR 15.892258
SDG 671.347602
SEK 10.91131
SGD 1.455255
SHP 0.878562
SLE 25.376455
SLL 23443.622963
SOS 638.930361
SRD 40.695273
STD 23140.068094
SVC 9.794512
SYP 14535.732744
SZL 20.425489
THB 37.363512
TJS 11.602416
TMT 3.918543
TND 3.380239
TOP 2.618436
TRY 43.356081
TTD 7.576868
TWD 33.936376
TZS 3017.928064
UAH 46.472623
UGX 4089.362762
USD 1.117987
UYU 46.764051
UZS 14522.647288
VES 104.378209
VND 28989.395896
VUV 134.301269
WST 3.117582
XAF 653.788437
XAG 0.034758
XAU 0.000351
XCD 3.021415
XDR 0.821315
XOF 643.96075
XPF 119.331742
YER 272.956853
ZAR 20.388668
ZMK 10063.249381
ZMW 29.804408
ZWL 359.991271
  • RBGPF

    0.8100

    63.81

    +1.27%

  • CMSD

    -0.1300

    22.26

    -0.58%

  • NGG

    -0.1000

    67.43

    -0.15%

  • SCS

    -0.1700

    10.54

    -1.61%

  • AZN

    -1.4900

    66.23

    -2.25%

  • RIO

    -0.2400

    62.03

    -0.39%

  • RELX

    0.6600

    53.06

    +1.24%

  • GSK

    -0.1300

    36.22

    -0.36%

  • BTI

    -0.1400

    40.55

    -0.35%

  • BCC

    -2.9700

    90.74

    -3.27%

  • CMSC

    -0.0950

    21.965

    -0.43%

  • JRI

    -0.1100

    12.77

    -0.86%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1700

    10.53

    -1.61%

  • BCE

    -0.7200

    21.26

    -3.39%

  • VOD

    -0.0200

    9.04

    -0.22%

  • BP

    -0.2000

    30.36

    -0.66%

Six Bulgarians face long UK jail terms for spying for Russia
Six Bulgarians face long UK jail terms for spying for Russia / Photo: Daniel LEAL - AFP/File

Six Bulgarians face long UK jail terms for spying for Russia

Six Bulgarians, members of a sophisticated spy network dubbed "The Minions", were before court Wednesday for sentencing, facing up to 14 years in prison for spying for Russia.

Text size:

The four men and two women either pled guilty or had been convicted of charges of conspiracy to spy at Russia's behest with their sentences due to be handed down on Monday, after four days of hearings at London's Old Bailey court.

Between 2020 to 2023, the six-person cell targeted journalists and a Kazakh former politician, and plotted to kidnap and honeytrap targets, tracking them across several European nations.

It was "industrial-scale espionage on behalf of Russia", Metropolitan police counter-terrorism Chief Commander Dominic Murphy said in March.

Ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, along with his second-in-command Bizer Dzhambazov, 43, and Ivan Stoyanov, 32, pled guilty to spying.

Barrister for the prosecution, Alison Morgan, on Wednesday laid out their roles in different operations, stressing they knew they were spying for Moscow.

London-based Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, were convicted in March after a trial lasting more than three months at the Old Bailey court.

- Working for GRU -

Two of the group were in court on Wednesday, with the rest appearing by video link from their detention centres.

They had dubbed themselves "The Minions" after the cartoon yellow characters in the film "Despicable Me" who work for the dastardly Gru. The six also worked for the GRU, the acronym for the Russian military intelligence service.

The group launched operations in the UK as well as Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro.

But UK police were able to retrace six operations thanks to more than 100,000 messages found on Roussev's Telegram account, which led police to his seaside home in the eastern town of Great Yarmouth.

Roussev received his instructions from Jan Marsalek, an Austrian fugitive who reportedly fled to Russia in 2020 after becoming wanted for fraud in Germany.

Marsalek, the former chief operating officer of payments firm Wirecard, was acting as a proxy for Russian intelligence services.

One operation targeted investigative journalist Christo Grozev, from the Bellingcat website, who uncovered Russian links to the 2018 Novichok chemical weapon attack in the English town of Salisbury and the downing of a Malaysia Airlines aeroplane four years earlier.

The group had planned "disruptive activity" at the Kazakh embassy in 2022, discussing a plan to spray the building with fake pig's blood.

- Like a 'spy novel' -

Roussev received more than 200,000 euros ($227,000) to fund his activities.

After the gang was busted in February 2023, police found huge amounts of spyware equipment in his home, including cameras and microphones hidden in ties, a stone, even a cuddly toy and a fizzy drinks bottle.

In messages to Marsalek, Roussev claimed "he will find the resources" to "keep the Russians happy" such as by kidnapping someone, Morgan said.

"The defendants were deployed to gather information about prominent individuals whose activities were of obvious interest to the Russian state," she added.

Murphy said in March that police had found "really sophisticated devices -- the sort of thing you would really expect to see in a spy novel".

Journalist and UK-based dissident Roman Dobrokhotov, and former Kazakh politician Bergey Ryskaliev, granted refugee status in Britain, were also among their targets.

The group also kept the US military base Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, under surveillance, believing Ukrainian soldiers were being trained there in using the Patriot air defence system.

Ties between Britain and Russia have been strained since Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

British security minister Dan Jarvis warned the convictions should "send a clear warning to those who wish to do the UK harm".

X.Kadlec--TPP