Five Bulgarians appear in court charged with spying for Russia

The five were part of a ‘network’ conducting surveillance on behalf of the Russian state, Westminster magistrates were told

Vanya Gaberova (centre), Katrin Ivanova (top left), Ivan Stoyanov (bottom left), Bizer Dzhambazov (top right) and Orlin Roussev (bottom right) (composite)

Five Bulgarians have appeared in court charged with spying and carrying out surveillance to assist the Russian state.

The three men and two women are accused of conspiring to gather information that would be useful to an enemy between August 2020 and February this year.

Orlin Roussev, 45, of Princes Road, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk; Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, of High Road, Harrow, north-west London; Katrin Ivanova, 31, of the same Harrow address; Ivan Stoyanov, 31, from Bannister Close, Greenford, west London; and Vanya Gaberova, 29, from Churchfield Road, Acton, west London, are charged with conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between 30 August 2020 and 8 February 2023.

The five, who all have EU settled status, appeared via video link at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning and only spoke to confirm they could hear and see the court, and to state their names and dates of birth.

Roussev, Dzhambazov and Ivanova were previously charged on 11 February 2023 with possession of false identity documents with improper intention, under section 4 of the Identity Documents Act 2010.

The court heard that all five defendants were arrested in February this year for offences contrary to the Official Secrets Act.

The five are alleged to be part of a “network” conducting surveillance on behalf of the Russian state.

The court was told that a large part took place abroad but coordination took place in the UK.

The defendants are accused of conspiring to collect information with “another person known as Jan Marsalek and others unknown”.

Mr Marsalek is the Austrian former chief operating officer of the company Wirecard, who became a wanted man in Germany after being suspected of having committed fraud. He is currently a fugitive from justice.

The five defendants were remanded into custody until their next appearance at the Old Bailey on 13 October by Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram.