A London court has sentenced six Bulgarian citizens convicted of spying for Russia. The prison terms range from 5 to 11 years, as reported by BBC Russian Service.
The longest sentence—10 years and 8 months—was handed to Orlin Rusev, identified as the leader of the criminal group. The other defendants received the following sentences: Bizer Dzhambazov—10 years and 2 months, Katrin Ivanova—9 years and 8 months, Vanya Gaberova—6 years, 8 months, and 3 weeks, Tihomir Ivanchev—8 years, and Ivan Stoyanov—5 years and 3 weeks.
The investigation found that the defendants had been surveilling journalists Roman Dobrokhotov and Christo Grozev. Their correspondence included discussions of possible kidnappings or assassinations of the investigators, though these plans were never carried out.
It was also revealed that from 2020 to 2023, the group conducted operations in the UK, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Montenegro on behalf of Russian intelligence services. The criminals were motivated solely by financial gain, not political beliefs.
During the proceedings, it emerged that Orlin Rusev acted on instructions from Jan Marsalek—the former COO of German company Wirecard. Marsalek fled to Russia in 2020 and is currently wanted by international law enforcement agencies.