Six Bulgarian FSB spies jailed for up to 10 years over plot to kidnap investigative journalists Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov

The Old Bailey Central Criminal Court in London has sentenced six Bulgarian nationals to between five and ten years in prison for spying on behalf of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Their activities were part of a plot to kidnap — or potentially kill — The Insider’s investigative journalists Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov.

Sentences (in decreasing order):

• Orlin Roussev: 10 years and 8 months (pleaded guilty)
• Biser Dzhambazov: 10 years and 2 months (pleaded guilty)
• Katrin Ivanova: 9 years and 8 months
• Tihomir Ivanchev: 8 years
• Vanya Gaberova: 6 years and 8 months
• Ivan Stoyanov: 5 years (pleaded guilty)

The court deemed 47-year-old Orlin Roussev to be the group’s ringleader. He admitted guilt, maintaining that he never intended to threaten Britain’s national security. Though Roussev admitted to gathering intelligence, he said none of his targets were harmed and claimed he had no influence over how Russian authorities might exploit the material. Co-defendants Katrin Ivanova and Vanya Gaberova confirmed that they had conducted surveillance but denied knowing they did so in the interests of Russian intelligence. Tihomir Ivanchev declined to take the stand but told investigators he was unaware of any Russian involvement.

All six are to be deported to Bulgaria following the completion of their sentences.

The BBC released footage of Roussev's interrogation, conducted during the investigation. In the video, he denied any involvement in espionage, saying “there was no James Bond activity on my end.”

The police nevertheless seized a staggering amount of espionage-related equipment from Roussev’s Norfolk home, including:

• 221 mobile phones
• 258 hard drives and data storage devices
• 495 SIM cards
• 33 audio-recording devices
• 55 video-recording devices
• 11 drones
• 16 radios
• 110 digital tools (including jammers, cyber-espionage equipment, hacking software, RFID reader writers, and GPS trackers)
• 91 financial cards — including 17 issued in other people’s names
• 75 passports and IDs, 55 of which were under false names

British investigators have described the group’s activities as “one of the largest” foreign intelligence operations ever uncovered in the UK. Between 2020 and 2023, the spy ring carried out surveillance on journalists and dissidents. They also monitored the activities of Ukrainian military personnel undergoing training at U.S. bases in Germany.

According to prosecutors, the network was led by Orlin Roussev and operated under the direction of Jan Marsalek — a fugitive former executive at the German payments company Wirecard and an agent of Russian intelligence. Marsalek, who is wanted by Interpol on financial fraud charges, is believed to have coordinated the group’s actions remotely from Russia.

It was Marsalek who instructed Roussev to begin monitoring journalist Christo Grozev, doing so on the very day — December 14, 2020 — that The Insider and Bellingcat published their investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The journalists presented evidence proving that the assassination attempt had been carried out by FSB operatives from the Special Technology Center (Unit NII-2).

Details of the latter plot to kidnap Christo Grozev and fellow journalist Roman Dobrokhotov are available in The Insider’s investigative report.