Britain has charged three Bulgarians suspected of spying for Russian while living undercover in suburban England, leading some newspapers to dub them 'the spies next door'. One of the three is described as a former advisor to Bulgaria’s energy ministry who ran a company involved in signals intelligence (SIGINT) and artificial intelligence.
The charges come as Moscow tries to recover from the expulsion of an estimated 400 suspected Russian intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover across Europe since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The UK investigation is being led by the Metropolitan Police's Terrorism Command. The British trio - two men and a woman - were detained in February 2023 during a counterterrorism probe, the BBC reported describing it a “major UK security investigation”. They were arrested under the 1911 Official Secrets Act and charged with possessing fake ID documents with "improper intention". The documents reportedly include passports and ID cards for the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, and the Czech Republic in addition to Bulgaria.
The three are said to have lived in the UK for years, residing in London and Norfolk, and holding down a number of jobs.
London residents Katrin Ivanova, 31, and Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, are accused of spying for Moscow
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Britain has charged three Bulgarians suspected of spying for Russian while living undercover in suburban England, leading some newspapers to dub them 'the spies next door'. One of the three is described as a former advisor to Bulgaria’s energy ministry who ran a company involved in signals intelligence (SIGINT) and artificial intelligence.
The charges come as Moscow tries to recover from the expulsion of an estimated 400 suspected Russian intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover across Europe since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The UK investigation is being led by the Metropolitan Police's Terrorism Command. The British trio - two men and a woman - were detained in February 2023 during a counterterrorism probe, the BBC reported describing it a “major UK security investigation”. They were arrested under the 1911 Official Secrets Act and charged with possessing fake ID documents with "improper intention". The documents reportedly include passports and ID cards for the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, and the Czech Republic in addition to Bulgaria.
The three are said to have lived in the UK for years, residing in London and Norfolk, and holding down a number of jobs.
London residents Katrin Ivanova, 31, and Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, are accused of spying for Moscow
Suspects reportedly worked for electoral commissions
The three defendants include Katrin Ivanova, 31, who lives at the same London address as her co-accused, Biser Dzhambazov, 41. The Daily Mail tabloid newspaper describes Katrin Ivanova as a 'party animal Kremlin spy' and Biser Dzhambazov as her partner who used dating sites to seek 'friendship'. Dzhambazov’s LinkedIn profile describes him as a student at London Metropolitan University. Bulgarian state documents say they worked for electoral commissions in London, which help expatriates vote in Bulgarian elections.
Suspect charged: Orlin Roussev
The third person charged is Orlin Roussev, 45, who lived in Norfolk on England’s east coast. Roussev reportedly worked as a consultant to the Bulgarian Energy Ministry for eight months between 2008-2009, when the ministry was led by the pro-Kremlin Bulgarian Socialist Party member Petar Dimitrov.
Roussev - who speaks Bulgarian, Russian and English - has business dealings in Russia including in financial services.
His LinkedIn profile says that since 2012, he has also owned a business involved in SIGINT - electronic communications intelligence. According to Companies House records, Roussev was a director of NewGen Tech Ltd. and MyTotal TV Ltd., both of which were dissolved without filing company accounts.
The Guardian said the trio were among five people detained in a long-running probe.
Russian spy agencies
Russia has three main spy agencies - the FSB (formerly KGB), military intelligence GRU, and SVR foreign intelligence service.
Suspected Russian spies have been involved in several high-profile European cases including the arrest of a Russian ‘illegal’ - aka sleeper agent - purportedly a Brazilian university researcher in Norway arrested on suspicion of spying for Moscow.
Britain accused Russia in the attempted 2018 murder of Russian defector Sergei Skripal.
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