The five Bulgarians charged in the UK with spying for Russia remain in custody (update)

A court in the UK charged five Bulgarian citizens with espionage. Orlin Rusev, Biser Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Ivan Stoyanov did not appear in court in person, but by video link from four British prisons, and remained silent during the hearing on September 26.

The Bulgarian ambassador to the UK, Marin Raykov, told BNT that the Bulgarian consul was present in the courtroom at his insistence. The decision was coordinated with the British side.

Reports have appeared in Western media that the leader of the Bulgarian group, Orlin Roussev, received assignments from Jan Marsalek. No charges have been brought against Marsalek, he is wanted on an Interpol red notice and is accused of fraud in Germany. He is believed to have links to the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate - GRU and is currently in Russia.

The five Bulgarians, three men and two women, did not appear in person in court. The charges were filed online. Orlin Roussev, Biser Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Ivan Stoyanov are accused of collecting information that could be used - directly or indirectly - in the interest of a foreign state.

Interestingly, the usual practice in such cases is for foreigners suspected of spying in the UK to be directly extradited, but this time a court case was filed. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 13 October.

Source: BNR

Five Bulgarians have been charged in the UK with spying for Russia

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The five Bulgarians accused of spying for Russia are believed to have been collecting classified information and passing it to Russia from August 2020 until February this year, when they were detained.

"The espionage case is behind closed doors, and the great interest in the subject is because such cases are rare in British courts, as the normal procedure is usually to extradite the suspects directly," said BNR's correspondent in Britain, Veselin Paunov.

They will also face a charge of falsifying documents, for which the penalty is up to 10 years in prison.

For espionage, the sentence is up to 14 years behind bars.