Ringleader Orlin Roussev led a Kremlin cell in the UK (Image: PA)
Vladimir Putin’s spies are becoming “much more aggressive and intrusive”, a counter-terrorism chief has warned, after “one of the biggest investigations” in decades snared five.
Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, were all convicted of being part of a Kremlin cell snooping on an “almost industrial scale”.
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Ringleaders Orlin Roussev, 47, from Great Yarmouth, and Biser Dzhambazov, 43, from London, had already admitted being part of a conspiracy to spy.
The mastermind for their activities was former Wirecard chief operating officer Jan Marsalek, who is in exile in Moscow.
READ MORE: Iran spy jail threat as UK Government issues urgent warning over Tehran threat
A Russian spy was living in a guesthouse in Great Yarmouth crammed full of surveillance kit (Image: -)
The case shocked security officials (Image: -)
Vanya Gaberova was another of the spy ring (Image: East2west News)
But Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, warned it is a “clear example” of Moscow “contracting” out its intelligence gathering to proxies and criminals, adding: “We will see more of that”.
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Commander Murphy also revealed more than one in five counter-terrorism investigations are now linked to hostile states trying to wreak havoc in Britain.
He said: “It is becoming an increasingly bigger part of all of CT’s work. Years ago, this would have been Russian agents on soil, directly working for a Russian intelligence agency.
“Instead what you have got is these activities being contracted out to individuals like this group.
“That says something about the hostile environment that we have created and the innovation behind now having to use criminals, or proxies.”
He added of the threat Russian intelligence services pose: “This is well organised, well-structured and poses a significant threat.
“We have to meet that demand. They are becoming much more aggressive and intrusive about how they carry out their activity in the UK.
“We need to make it harder for Russia to operate. In this case, it shows the difficult operating environment they now find themselves in. Post-Salisbury, we have seen a significant change in the way they operate, mostly trying to use criminal proxies and group like this to carry out their role for them rather than doing it directly.
“That means we have to shift our focus. But we can’t lose focus on the fact this is being done by the Russian state in the UK.
“This is one of those clear examples of outsourcing and I think we will see more of that. Over 20% of our work is no longer counter-terrorism related.
“Some of you will have noted in Ken McCallum’s statements that they have seen a 50% increase in the work they are doing on national security threats.
“And our close partnership in this means that that demand is going to be mirrored in the work that we are going to do going forward.”
The spies were ordered to carry out surveillance of an American military base in Germany, which they believed was being used for training Ukrainian troops on Patriot missiles following Russia’s invasion.
They planned to use international mobile subscriber identity or “IMSI” catchers to identify soldiers’ mobile phones on the airbase so their movements could be tracked when they later served in Ukraine, the court was told.
Tihomir Ivanchev was also implicated in the spy ring (Image: PA)
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They also plotted to kidnap journalists and planned fake attacks against Kazakhstan’s embassy in London so Putin’s secret services could come to the rescue.
Asked if there were other, similar, cells operating in Britain, Mr Murphy said: "The reality is, it won’t be the only activity Russia has conducted here in the UK and we have seen other disruptions into other types of Russian activity.
"Ken McCallum has been very open about the fact that there has been a very regular stream of sabotage and other activities linked to the Russian intelligence services.
"In terms of specific groups, all I can say is that within that 20% demand, there are a number of other investigations linked to Russia but they are not necessarily of this type.
"We look at lots of international threats."
The case also revealed how Russia tries to use protest groups and exploit political chaos in the UK.
The Old Bailey heard that Ms Ivanova had taken part in the surveillance of the Kazakh embassy in London as Roussev and Marsalek put together plans to douse it in pig’s blood using drones.
Roussev shared links to Just Stop Oil campaigns in which they have daubed buildings with paint and in October 2021 he messaged Marsalek to say he “met the Oil Protester… very good”.
The Bulgarian said that he was “definitely impressed on their abilities”.
“[Sic] Amazing organisation… they even have ‘training courses’ how to peaceful protest and disruption, tight on the edge of the law… without getting more than 1-2 weeks jail time in worst case scenario,” he wrote.
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“I can summarise these people as pure white KKK [Ku Klux Klan] or pure Hitler Youth… they are not racist… but simply only white people in their troops. I was surprised and confused at the same time…
“They are fearless … and pretty much have a ‘do not care’ attitude that they can go to jail … and sort of Kamikaze … but wait… in their ranks are very intelligent people … even teachers etc … so very interesting breed of people.”
Roussev claimed that JSO are “driven by pure dedication” and that “they like our angle for the interconnection between Human Rights Abuses and Big Oil business in Kazakhstan”.