(Adnkronos) – Three Bulgarian citizens, two women and a man, have been found guilty of spying for Russia in the United Kingdom. The trio called themselves ‘the Minions’, like Gru’s helpers in the animated film ‘Despicable Me’. But the ‘Gru’ they were referring to was actually the Russian secret services. According to the prosecution, the cell conducted intense surveillance of people and places targeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, including investigative journalists and a US military base in Germany, with members moving across Europe from their base in the United Kingdom. In the thousands of messages analyzed, plans were contained to kidnap and kill some of the group’s targets, as well as plans to trap them in so-called “honey traps”.
All residents of London, the three defendants are Katrin Ivanova, 33, a laboratory assistant from Harrow, Vanya Gaberova, 30, a beautician from Acton and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, a painter and decorator from Enfield. The three were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage, while Ivanova was also convicted of possessing numerous false identity documents.
The main targets of the spy cell were investigative journalists Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov, whose work included denouncing Russia’s role in the nerve agent attacks on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020 and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018. During the trial, prosecutor Alison Morgan Kc said the spy cell was “sophisticated in its methodology. It carried out surveillance of individuals and locations, created and used false identities and employed advanced technologies to acquire information”.
Both women were in a relationship with Bizer Dzhambazov, 43, who ran the spies’ field operations. The spy ring was run by Orlin Roussev, 46, a former city council employee. Roussev and Dzhambazov both pleaded guilty to espionage, but the other three denied the charges.
