Suspected Russian spies to be charged with conspiracy to conduct espionage

Five Bulgarian citizens suspected of spying for Russia will be charged with conspiracy to commit espionage, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, will be charged with conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to a enemy with a purpose detrimental to the security and interest of the State between August 30, 2020 and February 8, 2023.

Roussev, Dzhambazov and Ivanova were previously charged on February 11, 2023 with possession of false identity documents with improper intent under Article 4 of the Identity Documents Law of 2010.

Nick Price, head of the CPS Terrorism and Crime Branch, said: “The CPS has authorized a charge of conspiracy to commit espionage against three men and two women suspected of spying for Russia.

“Criminal proceedings against the five people are active and each of them has the right to a fair trial.

“It is extremely important that there are no reports, comments or sharing of information online that could in any way undermine these proceedings.

“The role of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments of whether it is appropriate to bring charges for consideration by a criminal court.”

All five defendants will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on September 26.

The charges arise after an investigation by the Metropolitan Police.