Published On 7 Mar 2025
Three Bulgarian nationals based in the United Kingdom have been convicted by a London jury of spying for Russia on what police said was “an industrial scale”.
The trio was accused of putting lives in danger as they followed orders on behalf of Russian intelligence to carry out surveillance across Europe on Kremlin opponents, including journalists, diplomats and Ukrainian troops.
A jury at London’s Old Bailey court on Friday found Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, 43, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, guilty of spying for Russia on what police said was “an industrial scale.”
The trio engaged in a series of surveillance and intelligence operations over three years during which one of their ringleaders nicknamed them “the Minions”, a reference to the yellow sidekicks in movie, Despicable Me, who work for supervillain Gru.
The defendants – who worked for the Russian intelligence service GRU – face up to 14 years in prison when they are sentenced in May along with three other Bulgarian members of the same spy cell.
The trio’s leader, Orlin Roussev, 47, his deputy Biser Dzhambazov, 43, and co-conspirator Ivan Stoyanov had all pleaded guilty to spying for Russia shortly before the trial.
Roussev received more than 200,000 euros ($217,000) to fund the spying activities.
The mastermind of the operation was alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian businessman wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard.
Marsalek, whose current whereabouts are unknown but is believed to be in Russia, acted as a go-between linking Russian intelligence and the spy ring, instructing them to carry out six serious operations in the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro until their arrest in 2023.
“This was spying on an almost industrial scale on behalf of Russia, the Russian state and Russian int