Three Bulgarian citizens have been detained in Great Britain on suspicion of espionage for Russia, reported BBC.
Read the newsletter The Day with Mediapool
These are Orlin Rusev 45 years old, Biser Jambazov (41) i Catherine Ivanova (31).
The information about them is limited, as there is evidence that Rusev was an adviser in the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy.
According to the investigators, they worked for the Russian security services.
They had 19 passports, driver’s licenses, identity cards and residence permits from various countries, including France, Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Great Britain, Greece, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, Sky News reported, citing London police.
The three have lived in the UK for years.
The prosecutor’s office has been investigating the case since March
In Bulgaria, there was no public information on the case so far. The Bulgarian embassy in London has not received any information about the arrests.
Hours after the release of the information, the state prosecution reported that “The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office is leading an investigation into the crime of espionage under Chapter One of the Special Part of the Criminal Code”.
The investigation began in March 2023, the prosecutor’s office specifies.
The DANS is also working on the case.
“Given the nature of the pre-trial proceedings and the fact that it contains classified information, no further details can be provided at this stage.” also indicated by the prosecutor’s office.
Former adviser to the Ministry of Energy
Orlin Rusev has business contacts in Russia. He is a former adviser in the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy.
His last known address is a guest house on the seafront in Great Yarmouth.
He moved to the UK in 2009 and worked in a technical role in the financial services industry for three years.
His online LinkedIn profile states that he later became the owner of a signals intelligence firm, which involves intercepting communications or electronic signals.
Three Bulgarians suspected as Russian spies arrested by UK counter-terror police #uk #bulgarians #featured #russia #russianspies #syndicate #terror #uk #eureporter https://t.co/Og9nAdJ8mH
— EU Reporter (@eurreporter) August 15, 2023
In Harrow, former neighbors describe Dzambazov and Ivanova as a couple.
Jambazov is a driver in a hospital, and Ivanova registered in her online profile on LinkedIn as a laboratory assistant in a private health business.
The couple, who moved to the UK around ten years ago, have run a public organization providing services to Bulgarian citizens, including introducing them to the “culture and norms of British society”.
According to Bulgarian government documents on the Internet, they also worked for electoral commissions in London, which facilitated the voting of Bulgarian citizens living abroad in elections.
The three defendants are expected to stand trial in London in January.
They have not yet pleaded guilty or not guilty to the charges.
“They were welcoming and friendly”
Mikhail Iliev, a massage therapist from London, told the BBC’s Russian service: “I met Biser and Katrin many years ago through a non-governmental organization they ran. This organization helped Bulgarians assimilate in the UK, in particular by organizing language courses. That’s how we got to know each other. We’ve seen each other 20-30 times, we’ve gone to we drink beer, I even gave Biser a massage when he had health problems”.
“I would say that they have always been very hospitable and friendly. They have never mentioned Russia or any Russians to me. Of course I was surprised to hear this news. Deep down I think that they are hardly spies, but who knows… I think a lot of people can be suspected of such things these days, especially Bulgarians. It’s not a fact that it’s true”he adds.
In an interview with BTV, neighbors of Jambazov and Ivanova from the previous two houses in which they lived shared that the two sometimes treated the neighbors with home-made sweets.
Neighbors say detectives spent a lot of time at their last home in Harrow. The police presence was visible throughout the week.
The Bulgarian embassy in London has not been informed
The Bulgarian ambassador in London Marin Raykov reported that our embassy had not received any information about the arrest.
“We have a principle in practice of exchanging and receiving information when there are our nationals detained. But the practice in the UK is that when relevant nationals of another country who are detained wish their country’s institutions not to be informed, the British generally respect that their wish. So, for me, the hypothesis and rather the explanation for our not being informed is exactly that, I can’t be otherwise.” Marin Raykov commented to BNR.
More detained
Reuters quoted London police as saying a total of five people were detained on February 8 on suspicion of breaching state secrets law.
Subsequently, three of them – Rusev, Jambazov and Ivanova – were charged with violating the Personal Documents Act of 2010.
Among the other detainees are an unnamed 32-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, living in Central and North London, respectively, according to Sky News TV.
All five suspected of breaching the State Secrets Act were later released on bail, although the BBC previously reported that Rusev, Djambazov and Ivanova remained in custody.
The law enforcement authorities emphasize that on July 31, a court session was held in a London court in the case of falsification of documents.
The police investigation into a possible violation of the State Secrets Act is ongoing.
Russian spies in Britain
Representatives of the police’s counter-terrorism unit have repeatedly said recently that more time should be devoted to investigating espionage and threats to the state, especially from Russia.
Their concern is understandable if we recall the sensational incidents related to the activities of the Russian special services in Great Britain, notes the BBC.
In 2018, Russian intelligence agents tried to kill former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Wiltshire, using the deadly Novichok nerve agent.
The couple, as well as responding detective Nick Bailey, were treated in hospital and were in danger of dying.
Later that year, local resident Dawn Sturgis, who is not related to the Skripals, died after being exposed to the nerve agent that had been left in Wiltshire in a perfume bottle.
In 2006, former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko was killed in London after being poisoned by assassins working for the Russian state, BTA recalls.
2023-08-15 14:30:19
#Bulgarians #detained #Great #Britain #spying #Russia #updated #Mediapool.bg
