Russian spying ring 'plotted to kidnap and assassinate journalist' in 'honeytrap' scheme
29 November 2024, 05:24
A Russian spy ring based in the UK discussed kidnapping and killing an investigative journalist, a court has heard.
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Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, are accused of carrying out extensive surveillance on Kremlin enemies across Europe.
That includes a discussion about seizing and assassinating a journalist for the investigative outlet Bellingcat.
The defendants have denied a charge of conspiracy to spy between August 30 2020 and February 8 2023.
Opening the trial on Thursday, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told jurors: "They were targeting people and places where the information that they obtained would be of particular use to Russia.
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"It was highly sensitive information. By gathering the information and passing it on to the Russian state, the defendants were putting many lives at risk.
"By conducting activity of this type, planned on UK soil, these defendants were acting in a way that was prejudicial to the safety and interests of the UK."
Hundreds of "sophisticated" devices were used to gather intelligence, including hidden bugs and jammers, jurors heard.
Among the spy kit were 33 audio devices, 55 visual recording devices, 221 mobile phone phones, 495 SIM cards, 11 drones, 75 passports and 91 bank cards in various names, Ms Morgan said.
Hundred of thousands of pounds were channelled into the ring via their Russian spymaster "Rupert Ticz", said to be Austrian national Jan Marsalek, the court heard.
The spy ring included two more defendants, Orlin Roussev and Biser Dzhambazov, who have pleaded guilty to espionage charges and accept having fake identity documents, the court was told.
Ms Morgan said there were six spying operations which involved "high level espionage with high levels of deceit" which were "extremely risky" for those involved.
They included getting close to their targets, filming them, and even envisaging direct contact, by deploying the female defendants as sexual bait to capture more information, jurors heard.
Ms Morgan told jurors: "It was high risk and it was highly sophisticated. The prosecution alleges that it is fanciful to suggest that any of these defendants were ignorant as to why they were doing what they were doing."
The first operation, between September and November 2021, targeted Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev, 64, whose work on Russian affairs included uncovering Russian links to the 2018 Salisbury attack and the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane in July 2014.
Bulgarian Grozev was tracked across Vienna, in Austria, Valencia, in Spain, and Montenegro, but only recognised Gaberova as she had sent him a Facebook request, jurors heard.
In a Telegram chat, the Russian agent and Roussev discussed placing a spy next to him on a flight from Vienna to Valencia.
Among the options discussed were robbing him, burning his property, kidnapping him and taking him to Moscow, infiltrating Bellingcat and even killing him, jurors were told.
The second operation in November 2022 focused on UK-based Russian dissident Roman Dobrokhotov.
Jurors heard he is an investigative journalist and founder of The Insider, a media organisation which was formerly based in Russia, before he fled the country.
The third operation was on Kazakhstan former politician Bergey Ryskaliyev, who fled to the UK and was granted refugee status.
The targeting of the political dissident in November 2021 would have helped cultivate relations between Russia and Kazakhstan, it was claimed.
The fourth operation involved staging a fake demonstration outside the Kazakh Embassy in September 2022, to create a pretence that the spies had genuine intelligence about those responsible to pass on to Kazakhstan intelligence services to further curry favour, jurors heard.
This operation was conducted with a man called Ivan Stoyanov, jurors were told.
The fifth operation concerned Patch Barracks, a US military airbase in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2022.
At the time, the defendants were said to have believed the base was being used to train Ukrainian soldiers, it was alleged.
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Ms Morgan said the defendants were using "highly sophisticated technology" to gather sensitive intelligence from the base.
The sixth operation targeted Russian lawyer Kirill Kachur when he was spending time in Montenegro between September 2021 and January 2022.
The court heard Mr Kachur had been designated a "foreign agent" by Russia in November 2023 and was another dissident, jurors heard.
Jurors were told that Dzhambazov, 43, was in a relationship with both Ivanova and Gaberova, with the latter formerly involved with Ivanchev.
Ms Morgan said what the defendants did was not in dispute, and invited jurors to consider why they were doing it, what they knew and what they intended when they passed information "back along the line".
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Ivanova has denied a second charge of possession of false identity documents with improper intention under section 4 of the Identity Documents Act 2010.
At the time of the alleged offences, Ivanchev was living in Acton, west London, Ivanova was living in Harrow, north-west London, and Gaberova in Euston, north London.
Mr Justice Hilliard adjourned the trial until Monday.
