Two Bulgarian men plead guilty to spying for Russia in UK

Daniel De Simone
Investigations correspondent

Two Bulgarian men have pleaded guilty to spying for Russia in the UK, a court has heard.

Orlin Roussev, 46, from Great Yarmouth, and Biser Dzhambazov, 43, from London, have admitted conspiracy to spy.

Their guilty pleas can be reported for the first time today.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were told about the convictions at the start of a trial involving three other alleged spies.

Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, all from London, deny a charge of conspiracy to spy.

Ms Ivanova also denies possessing multiple false identify documents.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the court Roussev and Dzhambazov had already admitted being part of the same espionage activity.

Three defendants, along with others, "spied for the benefit of Russia" between 2020 and 2023, Ms Morgan said.

She added that they "sought to gather information for the benefit of Russia, an enemy of the UK", including information about various targets, both people and locations, of particular interest to the Russian state.

Ms Morgan said the defendants were "sophisticated in their methodology; carrying out surveillance activity of individuals and places; manufacturing and using false identities and deploying advanced technology to acquire information".

She said the defendants had "obtained imagery" and "compiled detailed reports on their targets".

"They were paid significant sums of money for their actions. And they all knew why they were being tasked to conduct their operations. Their activity was being undertaken for the direct or indirect benefit of Russia," she said.

Jurors were told that messages between the defendants showed them acting as a "team", working under the direction of Roussev, and that he, in turn, received instructions from Jan Marsalek, who was working as an "intermediary for the Russian intelligence services".

The court heard Marsalek is an Austrian national and can "properly be described as a Russian agent".

Ms Morgan said the prosecution will concentrate on six "key operations" carried out by the defendants, with each of them playing a role in at least two of the operations. The operations related to targeted people or places.

She said it was not disputed that the defendants were carrying out surveillance activities, but jurors will have to determine in relation to each defendant why they were carrying out surveillance.

The evidence showed "high level espionage with high levels of deceit", Ms Morgan said, and all three defendants stood or sat near to "real life targets, real people", filming them and capturing information using sophisticated equipment.

The prosecutor added that direct contact with targets was envisaged, for example, by the female defendants being used as a "honey trap, as sexual bait to capture more information from the targets".