Putin's Bulgarian spy ring jailed for 50 years for running mass 'intelligence operation' out of Great Yarmouth B&B

12 May 2025, 16:51 | Updated: 12 May 2025, 16:58

Six Bulgarians have been sentenced to more than 50 years in total for spying for Russia on an industrial scale.

Ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, who led the spy ring from a rundown guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, admitted the plot along with his second-in-command, Biser Dzhambazov, 44, and Ivan Stoyanov, 33.

Female "honeytrap" agents Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30, and competitive swimmer Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March of activities which police have said put lives and national security at risk.

Police described it as "one of the largest" foreign intelligence operations in the UK.

The cell's key targets were journalists who helped expose Russia's role in the nerve agent attacks on Putin critic and former Opposition leader Alexei Navalny and ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal who was poisoned in Salisbury in 2017.

The group also discussed plans to kidnap Christo Grozev, a journalist from the Bellingcat group.

The court previously heard the spy ring referred to themselves as "minions", inspired by the Despicable Me films.

The full sentences:

• Orlin Roussev has been sentenced to 10 years and 8 months
• Bizer Dzhambazov has been sentenced to 10 years and two months
• Katrin Ivanova has been sentenced to 9 years and eight months in prison for count one, and on count two, a concurrent sentence of 15 months in prison
• Tihomir Ivanchev has been sentenced to eight years
• Vanya Gaberova has been sentenced to sentenced to six years, eight months and three weeks' imprisonment
• Ivan Stoyanov has been sentenced to handed a sentence of five years and three weeks' imprisonment

All of the defendants are liable for automatic deportation to Bulgaria at the end of the custodial sentence.

The group carried out surveillance on prominent targets, at times using fake identities, and deployed advanced technology to acquire intelligence.

They used a series of false identity documents for their operations, including pretending to be accredited members of the media and photographers as well as law enforcement and health workers, including the NHS.

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They also followed people - including on flights - carrying out reconnaissance around significant buildings and feeding information back to others.

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