The operation, which ended with a series of arrests, began with a message: "Can we use the IMSI interceptor in Germany? We need to spy on Ukrainians at a German military base”.
An IMSI interceptor is a tool that collects sensitive information from nearby mobile phones, such as passwords.
The sender of this message on Telegram is Jan Marsalek - the former director of Wirecard and one of the most wanted men in the world. He received a response from Orlin Rusev - the Bulgarian spy who was arrested a little later in London. "Of course we can”, Rusev wrote. "It's just collecting dust in my Indiana Jones garage".
This marks the beginning of a very delicate operation. WDR, NDR and "Süddeutsche Zeitung" have investigated the work of the Bulgarian spy cell in Germany. ARD reported on its website what they found.
Plans for propaganda, kidnappings and murders
Rusev is one of five Bulgarians who are accused of spying for Russia in the United Kingdom. He pleaded guilty, as did one of his accomplices - Biser Dzhambazov. The other three defendants, however, continue to claim that they did not know that they were spying for Moscow.
Analysis of the messages that Marsalek exchanged with the Bulgarians shows that plans were made for assassinations, kidnappings, drone surveillance and propaganda. All of this was planned and ordered by Russia. For example, Marsalek is alleged to have activated a group of Turks from Berlin to transfer money from the German capital to Vienna, where the Bulgarian journalist Hristo Grozev was to be followed. The communication between Rusev and Marsalek shows that there was also talk of his potential kidnapping or murder, ARD points out.
Operations with those arrested in London, but also with other people
One of the accused admitted that she was part of a plan to prepare and distribute a discrediting poster of German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, in which he is depicted as a soldier from Nazi Germany. "Whoever saves electricity helps the Wehrmacht”, the propaganda poster read.
The investigation by the German media shows that the network of people that Rusev had at his disposal was far from limited to the Bulgarians arrested in Britain. It is alleged that there were also several separate teams in Bulgaria. In Germany, Rusev also recruited people to work on his campaigns in Stuttgart and Berlin. In one of the messages between the Bulgarian and Marsalek, he tells him that they were "hired students for an attack in Berlin" via the Internet. It is not clear what exactly this is about.
The big target: an American military base near Stuttgart
During the trial in London, it became clear that two of the Bulgarians traveled to Stuttgart in 2022 to investigate the American military base "Patch Barracks" near the German city. According to Rusev, the goal was to observe the Ukrainian soldiers who were training at the base. Marsalek even jokes with his accomplice Rusev, suggesting that they raise a drone over the American military base and "see how many months it will take them to notice", it is also clear from the information of ARD.
A video clip was also shown in the courtroom, showing Dzhambazov and Katrin Ivanova walking along the fence of the military base. Later, she reported to Marsalek how many cameras there were in the area. However, the woman claims that she did not know what this operation was. She was excited to go to Stuttgart because her father lived nearby, she claimed in court.
More experienced than the "tourists from Salisbury"
Marsalek, however, seems to have been worried that his Bulgarian agents were amateurs and might draw attention to themselves. The brains of the operation warn Rusev to monitor his team and be careful because "the Germans are super tense right now from the activities of the Russian services on the ground". Just a few weeks earlier, the head of Germany's military counterintelligence, Martina Rosenberg, warned of spy operations with drones, the German publication recalls.
Rusev assures Marsalek that his people are experienced and know how to hide. They are not reckless like "the tourists from Salisbury", the Bulgarian writes to Marsalek. Apparently, he is referring to the two Russian spies, disguised as tourists, who attempted to kill the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in 2018. Rusev suggests attracting another Bulgarian woman living in Stuttgart, who was part of their propaganda operations with graffiti on the streets of German cities. According to the Bulgarian's calculations, which became known from his messages to Marsalek, the planned operation cost between 40 and 45 thousand euros per month, ARD reports.
Weeks before the operation at the military base
The mission was supposed to begin in early February 2023. Marsalek wrote to Rusev that 70 Ukrainians had arrived in Germany to be trained to work with the "Patriot" air defense system. Rusev promised that he and his team would be ready within a week, and Marsalek was satisfied and was already planning that if they were successful with the IMSI interceptor in Germany, they could use the spying technique in the UK as well.
Just a few days later, however, Rusev and the other Bulgarians from his team in London were arrested. In early 2024, Rusev pleaded guilty.
Authors: Manuel Bevarder, Florian Flade (ARD)