"I was the main target of a total of six missions of the spy cell with Bulgarian participation. This is what the British prosecutor's office claims in documents presented in the case against our compatriots. The second target was my colleague - the investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov, who currently lives in the UK". This was stated by the investigative journalist Hristo Grozev in "Wake Up" on Nova TV, commenting on the case concluded in the British capital against six Bulgarian citizens who were found guilty of espionage in favor of Russia. Our compatriots were recruited by agent Jan Marsalek, and the goal was to kidnap and kill investigative journalists Hristo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov.
Grozev explained that from the chronology of the messages exchanged between the members of the spy group, it is clear that the communication between them began on December 14, 2020. "This is the day we published the major investigation into the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, in which we showed the faces of his poisoners and potential killers. This investigation turned out to be very inconvenient - because it shows that not only is the Russian regime behind these poisonings, but also that it cannot hide its tracks. This is no coincidence," the journalist emphasized.
According to him, we are talking about over 200,000 messages intercepted in Telegram, which were intercepted by the English prosecutor's office. "It seems that the goals of this group are changing. It's about over 2 and a half years of surveillance - of me and my colleague. At the beginning, the goal was to prove some fictitious topic that exists as a fantasy in Moscow, that we did not receive the information for the investigation ourselves, but were given it by spy agencies," he said, emphasizing that his electronic devices were stolen.
He emphasized that plans were also made for revenge "how to kidnap me and take me to Moscow." "Some of the ideas border on fantasies, including setting fire to my villa while we sleep, detonating a bomb near me, and sinking my non-existent boat," Grozev said.
"All messages and instructions on this case come from Jan Marsalek. After an investigation, we found that he had disappeared to Russia, having worked for their special services for the last ten years," the journalist explained.
Marsalek gave instructions to the spy cell on the island, but "referred to the FSB". "In a message to Orlin Rusev, when they were discussing whether to kidnap or kill me, Marsalek himself said that he did not think it was a good idea to kill me because it would be clear where the instructions came from, "but Putin himself hates him". If we believe Marsalek, the instructions came from Putin, but they were coordinated or sent by the Federal Security Service of Russia", Grozev said.