​British prosecutors announced today that they will charge a sixth Bulgarian with espionage for Russia, Reuters reports with reference to BTA and Sega. The man is presented as Tyhomyr Ivanov Ivantsev, 38 years old.

He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Wednesday. Ivantsev is charged with conspiring to obtain or disseminate information which may be used directly or indirectly for purposes prejudicial to the security and interests of the United Kingdom.

Scotland Yard said Ivantsev, from Acton, west London, was arrested on February 7. Commander Dominic Murphy, who heads the counter-terrorism unit, was quoted by The Guardian as saying: “A sixth suspect was identified and arrested following an investigation into five previous arrests and, in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service, has now been charged. Ivantsev has the right to a fair trial, and we therefore urge people not to post anything on social media or the media that could increase the risk of serious harm to these ongoing criminal proceedings.”

Earlier, British prosecutors accused five other Bulgarians of being part of an alleged Russian spy network between August 2020 and February 2023, Reuters recalls.

A few months ago, after a court hearing, the five were remanded in custody. They appeared via video link from four British prisons to attend the hearing at London’s Central Court. Katrin Ivanova and Vanya Gaberova participated from Bronzefield prison, and Orlin Rusev, Biser Djambazov and Ivan Stoyanov – from Belmarsh, Frankland and Manchester prisons.

During the court session, the defense attorneys admitted that the evidence collected by the investigation is so extensive that they need more time to review it. A number of travel documents, communication protocols, including data on the targets and persons whom the Bulgarians allegedly followed and collected intelligence information, were added to the case. There were also 18,000 messages. Also, only Orlin Rusev, Katrin Ivanova and Biser Dzhambazov will be tried for possession of forged documents.

According to the accusations of the British prosecutor’s office, the Bulgarians were monitoring people and targets indicated by Russia. The purpose of such surveillance was to help Moscow carry out hostile actions against controlled targets, including potential kidnappings. The group was headed by 45-year-old Rusev and operated for almost two years until the Bulgarian was arrested in February 2023.

The five are accused of conspiring with Jan Marsalek, who is behind one of Germany’s biggest financial scams and is known to have good connections with Russian intelligence. However, he is not the defendant in the case, although Rusev is believed to have received a commission from him. Marsalek fled Vienna on a private plane just before he was arrested on charges of financial fraud. He originally landed in Belarus, but is now believed to be living in Russia.

Marsalek has a Russian passport in the name Herman Bazhenov, as well as another one, about which there are no details. Marsalek is believed to have become a GRU agent in the early 1990s. According to British prosecutors, the property that housed the “operational espionage center” belonged to Orlin Rusev, who is believed to be the ringleader of what the five are also known as the “Rusev Group.”

During the search, the Bulgarian was found to have forged personal documents from Great Britain, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and the Czech Republic. “Spiegel” claims that the Bulgarians could have planned the murders and kidnappings. In August, the “Dossier” investigative center established that Rusev, an electronics engineer, had handed over a protected Samsung push-button phone to Jan Marsalek.

The material was created with the support of Rador Radio Romania