Anti-terrorist police units detained them already in February, but now official charges have been brought against the three suspects, so their names have become public knowledge. Katrina Ivanova and Bizer Zambazov lived as a couple, organized events for the local Bulgarian diaspora, published guides on how to become a British citizen.
The third arrested – Orlin Rusev – led a more secluded lifestyle. He has been living in Great Britain since 2009. Worked in a technical position in the financial services industry, stated on his social media LinkedIn profile that for the past few years he has owned a company dealing with communications and electronic signal interception. He was also once an adviser to the Bulgarian Minister of Energy.
Bulgarian Orlins Rusev, arrested in Great Britain for espionage for Russia, also operated in Latvia. In the spring of 2014, together with Russian citizen Anton Grishaev, he founded the company SIA CloudTelecom.
Already around this time, Rusev was involved in the sale of spy equipment, according to an investigation by the Center for the Mikhail Khodorkovsky Dossier. In 2015, Rusev contacted a German businessman who was offered equipment that protects against eavesdropping and finding out the location of other persons. The Dossier Center revealed that Russian citizen Anton Grishaev also worked with Rusev.
In “CloudTelecom” registered in Latvia, 20% of shares belonged to Rusev, 80% to Grishaev. The company was declared in an apartment in Purvciem, where there are also companies that bring Norwegians to Latvia for gastric bypass surgery.
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A month after its establishment, the company was re-registered in the building on Vecpilsētas street. Several companies related to the Baltcom group were already located at this address.
The building in which the suspicious company was registered is temporarily owned by Pēteris Šmidres. He agreed to answer the questions in writing.
Peter Šmidre
Entrepreneur
“”SIA CloudTelecom” expressed a desire to rent space and maintain an office in the building I own – Vecpilsētas street 19, Riga. The building at that time and is currently being used, rented for the needs of offices of legal entities. I don’t remember that at that time there was any reason or obstacle to refuse.”
In the autumn of 2014, the former member of the council of “Baltcom TV” Aleksandrs Šihmans joined the board of SIA “CloudTelecom”, but Ingmārs Kariņas Grišajevs, who is connected with the “Baltcom” group, issued a power of attorney to act on behalf of the company.
In autumn 2015, the court declared the company insolvent. The verdict shows that this was done at the request of the state company “Latvian State Radio and Television Center”.
2023-08-27 17:09:30
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