Three Bulgarians were found guilty today in a London court of participating in a Russian spy group, led by Wirecard investigator Jan Marsalek, to conduct surveillance for the Kremlin on a US military base and monitor individuals targeted by Moscow, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Katrin Ivanova (43), Vanya Gaberova (30) and Tihomir Ivanchev (39) were convicted at the Old Bailey court in London on charges of conspiracy to collect information useful to an enemy state between August 2020 and February 2023. They have denied the charges.
The prosecution said the three, along with Orlin Rusev and Biser Dzhambazov, who pleaded guilty before the start of the trial, had been spying on journalists and planning to stage a fake protest outside the Kazakh embassy in London.
According to the prosecution, Marsalek also instructed the Bulgarian group to spy on Ukrainian soldiers training at a US base in Germany.
They discussed kidnapping or killing opponents of the Russian state. They also tried to frame Bulgarian journalist Hristo Grozev, who revealed that Moscow was involved in the 2018 Novichok poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. in the British city of Salisbury, luring him into a romantic relationship with Gaberova. The leaders of the group discussed a plan to rob and kill the journalist from "Bellingcat" Grozev or kidnap him and take him to Russia, the prosecutor's office also said, quoted by the AP.
Marsalek, an Austrian citizen, is wanted by German authorities as the former chief operating officer of the bankrupt payments company "Wirecard". He is accused of financial fraud worth billions of euros.
His current whereabouts are unknown, but he is believed to be hiding in Russia.