LONDON, August 15. /TASS/. British police detained three Bulgarian nationals in February on suspicion of spying for Russia, the BBC has reported.
According to the UK authorities, Orlin Roussev, 45; Bizer Dzhambazov, 41; and Katrin Ivanova, 31, all UK residents, were allegedly working for Russian intelligence services. They currently remain in custody. The BBC noted that the Bulgarian nationals were detained by officers of the Counter Terrorism Command of London’s Metropolitan Police (commonly known as Scotland Yard - TASS), which handles espionage cases.
The BBC noted that the trio are charged with forging official documents, including passports and other identity documents, of persons from such countries as Bulgaria, Great Britain, Greece, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, France, Spain, and the Czech Republic. Roussev resided in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in eastern England, while Dzhambazov and Ivanova co-habited in Harrow, northwest London. According to the BBC, they had been living in the United Kingdom for several years, periodically changing their places of employment.
Roussev is said to have moved in 2009 to the UK, where he held technical positions in the financial services industry for three years. Later, he owned a business that monitored and analyzed communications traffic, which involved intercepting messages or electronic signals. In addition, his profile on the LinkedIn social network (prohibited in Russia) states that he was formerly an advisor to the Bulgarian Energy Ministry.
Dzhambazov and Ivanova moved to the UK about 10 years ago. Dzhambazov reportedly worked as a driver for hospitals, while Ivanova worked as a lab technician for a private medical firm. The BBC stated that they ran an organization as volunteers that assists Bulgarians living in the UK. The BBC also said the pair worked for Bulgarian electoral commissions in London helping Bulgarian citizens resident in the UK to vote in Bulgarian national elections.
The three detainees are slated to appear at London's Old Bailey Central Criminal Court in January 2024, the BBC stated. TASS has contacted the Russian and Bulgarian embassies in the UK but has not yet received any comment on the matter.