Bulgarians deny being part of Russian spy ring run from guest house

Group accused of targeting people and places in the UK and gathering information as part of kidnap plots

Five Bulgarians have denied being part of a Russian spy ring run from a guest house in Great Yarmouth.
Orlin Roussev, 46, Bizer Dzhambazov, 42, Katrin Ivanova, 32, Ivan Stoyanov, 32, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, appeared at the Old Bailey to plead not guilty to conspiring to gather information that would be useful to an enemy between August 2020 and February 2023.
It is alleged that along with another Bulgarian, Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, they plotted six “operations” that would have been prejudicial to the “safety and interest of the state” on behalf of Moscow.
Jan Marsalek, the boss of Wirecard, who has been on the run since the German payments company collapsed in 2020 with €1.9 billion missing from its balance sheets, is charged with running the group on behalf of the Kremlin.
The Austrian national is on Europe’s most wanted list for his part in the alleged fraud and is believed to be in Russia. He is not charged in the spying case.
The court has heard that the alleged spying operations targeted people and places in the UK, Germany, Austria and Montenegro and included gathering information as part of kidnap plots.
Roussev, the alleged ringleader who appeared via video link from HMP Belmarsh, Dzhambazov and Ivanova denied a second charge of possession of false identity documents with improper intention under section 4 of the Identity Documents Act 2010.
It is alleged that on Feb 8 last year they had a total of 18 fake identity documents – passports, identity cards and a driving licence – for Britain, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Greece.
Ivanchev, of Acton, west London, who appeared alone in the Old Bailey dock, was not asked to enter a plea to the conspiracy charge.
The court heard that the charge against him relates to surveillance of Kirill Katchur in Montenegro.
The alleged spy ring members all had addresses in the UK with Roussev in Great Yarmouth, Dzhambazov and Ivanova in Harrow, north west London, Stoyanov in Greenford, west London, and Gaberova in Euston, north London.
They are due to face trial in October.