Metropolitan Police
The three Bulgarian individuals were involved in a complicated web of Russian espionage, which included secret cameras, dangerous games in an embassy and… love betrayals.
One man and two Bulgarian women were considered to be guilty of espionage in favor of Russia. Police described the crime as “one of the largest” foreign espionage operations in the United Kingdom.
Vanya Gaberova, 30, Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, all resident in London, had normal jobs: one was a beautician, another health professional and another decorator
But aside, they were part of a group that traveled around Europe to watch in journalists a former political and a US military base in Germany between 2020 and 2023. They actually worked for a Russian spy network.
For their operations, they used objects that would be expected to see in a spying novel, ”commander Dominic Murphy of the Metropolitan Police told Commander Dominic Murphy. Hidden cameras in tiesa chamber hidden in a fake stone, glasses with recording equipment and even Pluches with Chamberswere some of the artifacts.
They worked for a man named Orlin Roussev, who drove the spy network. On the net, there were two more men, Biser Dzhambazov and Ivan Stoyanov.
But the most caricature is that the spies themselves did not share only information. They also shared… the partners.
Dzhambazov and Ivanova lived together as a couple. But Dzhambazov also had a relationship with Gaberova – they were found together in bed when police made the detention – and Ivanchev had had a separate relationship with her in the past. It may seem complicated, but it is a classic love triangle (or square, since there are four interveners).
Among the crimes that they are now considered guilty of a court in England, is a persecution of journalist Roman Dobrokhotov. The spies will even have considered to kidnap it, and even discovered the PIN code of their mobile phone. They also tried to get favors from the Kazakhstan embassy in London, among other operations.
