Three Bulgarians have been convicted of espionage charges in the UK, accused of working for Russian intelligence between 2020 and 2023. Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at London's Central Criminal Court, also known as the Old Bailey. The trial, which concluded over 10 days ago, finally saw a verdict delivered, and the three individuals have been remanded in pre-trial detention. Their sentences will be handed down between May 7 and 12.

The spy group, allegedly led by fugitive Jan Marsalek, was involved in a range of covert activities, including surveillance of key individuals and locations targeted by Russia. Among their objectives were investigative journalists such as Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov, who exposed Russian involvement in high-profile nerve agent attacks on opposition figures like Alexei Navalny and Sergei Skripal. Their operations also extended to a US military base in Germany.

Ivanova was also found guilty of possessing multiple forged identity documents. In total, the jury examined extensive evidence linking Ivanova, Gaberova, and Ivanchev to a conspiracy to collect information for Russia, although the trio denied the charges. Before the trial, two other members of the group, Orlin Rusev and Biser Dzhambazov, had already pleaded guilty. It was revealed that the sixth defendant, Ivan Stoyanov, had also entered a guilty plea, a detail made public only after the trial concluded.

The convicted spies were also involved in plotting actions like staging a fake protest outside the Kazakh embassy in London. The operation’s scope included plans for kidnapping and even assassination of some of their targets, as well as using women in the group as “sex traps” to infiltrate their targets’ circles. The espionage activities, orchestrated under the direction of Marsalek, spanned across various European countries with a central base in the UK.