Five Bulgarian suspects charged with spying for Russia
A 29-year-old beautician is one of five Bulgarians charged with spying for Russia.
Vanya Gaberova, who owns a nail and eyelash beauty salon in Acton, west London, and four compatriots are accused of being part of a spy ring suspected of conducting surveillance in the UK and mainland Europe and passing information to the Russian state.
Gaberova and her compatriots, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, and Katrin Ivanova, 31, will appear at Westminster magistrates’ court on Tuesday to face charges of conspiring to gather information that would be useful to an enemy of the state between August 2020 and February 2023.
Roussev was the alleged ringleader and Dzhambazov and Ivanova, who were in a relationship, had previously been charged with possessing 19 fake passports and other identity documents with “improper intention”.
They included documents for the UK, Bulgaria, France, Italy and other countries allegedly made by Roussev. All three have yet to enter pleas to that charge and are due to face trial next year.
The three men and two women had all lived in Britain for several years and were arrested in February. They are accused of posing as journalists and carrying out alleged surveillance operations in the UK, Germany and Montenegro…..
Roussev, who is suspected of acting as a link between the group and those who received the intelligence, had previously owned a business involved in signals intelligence — the interception of communications. He was once an adviser to the Bulgarian ministry of energy and moved to the UK in 2009.…
The charges follow an investigation by the Metropolitan Police.
Nick Price, head of the Crown Prosecution Service special crime and counterterrorism division, said: “The CPS has authorised a charge of conspiracy to conduct espionage against three men and two women suspected of spying for Russia.”
They would be charged with “conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between 30 August 2020 and 8 February 2023”.