In the UK there is a case of espionage linking Bulgaria and Russia
The UK has accused three Bulgarian nationals of spying for Russia. All the details
The British authorities have accused three Bulgarian citizens of spying on behalf of Russia , as part of "an important national security investigation" which led to at least five arrests already last February.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE THREE BULGARIANS ACCUSED OF ESPIONAGE
Two of the Bulgarians appear to be legally married. They were identified as Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, and Katrin Ivanova, 31, who live in Harrow, London. The third Bulgarian, Orlin Roussev, 45, was arrested in Great Yarmouth, a seaside town on the east coast of England. None of the suspects appear to have a formal diplomatic connection to Bulgaria or Russia.
The Bulgarians were reportedly arrested in February this year by the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, whose law enforcement remit includes working on counterintelligence cases. Two other people arrested at the time were not charged or named. The three suspects were charged under Section 4 of the UK's Identity Documents Act 2010, which prohibits the possession of false identity documents with "improper intent" and with the knowledge of the owner that they are forgeries. According to British government prosecutors, the suspects possessed counterfeit passports and ID cards for Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
Dzhambazov and Ivanova are believed to have moved to the UK as a couple in 2013. Both have worked in the British healthcare sector: Ivanova as a laboratory assistant for a private company and Dzhambazov as a driver for a hospital. Roussev moved to the UK in 2009 and has worked on the technical side of the financial services industry: he says he worked as a consultant for Bulgaria's Energy Ministry and previously owned a private company operating in the intelligence sector of signals (SIGINT), which involves the interception of electronic communications.
RELATIONS BETWEEN BULGARIA AND RUSSIA
Bulgaria was one of the Soviet Union's closest allies during the Cold War. Relations between Bulgaria and Russia collapsed in the 2000s, but pro-Russian sentiments continue to linger among some nationalist segments of the Bulgarian electorate.
In June this year, Kiril Petkov, the leader of the Bulgarian We Continue the Change party, which today supports the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Nikolai Denkov, spoke publicly about "Moscow-backed agents" operating within the intelligence services Bulgarians. Petkov proposed an ambitious plan to reform the Bulgarian secret services in order to "diminish Russia's influence". He proposed doing this by administering "integrity and ethics tests" to intelligence personnel.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/regno-unito-spionaggio-russia-cittadini-bulgari/ on Thu, 17 Aug 2023 08:00:41 +0000.