Five Bulgarians charged with spying for Russia to appear in court

Five Bulgarians charged with spying for Russia are set to appear in court.

The three men and two women are accused of conspiring to gather information that would be useful to an enemy between August 2020 and February this year.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on September 21 that it authorised a charge of conspiracy to conduct espionage against three men and two women suspected of spying for Russia.

Orlin Roussev, 45, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk; Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, of Harrow, north-west London; Katrin Ivanova, 31, of the same Harrow address; Ivan Stoyanov, 31, from Greenford, west London; and Vanya Gaberova, 29, from Churchway, north-west London; are charged with conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between August 30 2020 and February 8 2023.

Roussev, Dzhambazov, and Ivanova were previously charged on February 11 2023 with possession of false identity documents with improper intention under section 4 of the Identity Documents Act 2010, the CPS added.

The five are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning.

They were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command in February under the Official Secrets Act.