LONDON: Five Bulgarian nationals accused of being part of a Russian spying network in Britain, tasked with carrying out surveillance and obtaining information about targets, appeared by videolink in a London court on Tuesday.
The three men and two women are accused of conspiring “to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state” between Aug. 30, 2020 and Feb. 8, 2023.
Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, and Vanya Gaberova, 29, all Bulgarian nationals who lived in London and Norfolk, were arrested by counterterrorism police in February this year.
They did not enter a plea at this stage and were remanded in custody until their next appearance at London’s Old Bailey court on Oct. 13.
Roussev, Dzhambazov, and Ivanova had already been charged with identity document offenses and are due to appear at the Old Bailey on Thursday over those allegations.
Describing the charges, prosecutor Kathryn Selby told Westminster Magistrates’ Court the defendants were accused of being part of an organized network which had carried out surveillance and hostile action on behalf of Russia against specific targets, including for potential abductions.
Selby said Roussev’s home was the group’s alleged operating hub in Britain, and said the network had been given tasking by a person known as Jan Marsalek.
Marsalek, the former chief operating officer for collapsed payments company Wirecard, is wanted by German police over alleged fraud and his whereabouts are currently unknown.
He has not been charged with any crime in Britain but was named as an alleged co-conspirator in the charges against the five Bulgarians. The office of Marsalek’s lawyer declined to comment. Britain has been seeking to take tougher action on external security threats and potential spies, and in July passed a national security law, aiming at overhauling its means of deterring espionage and foreign interference with new tools and criminal provisions.
At the time, the government labelled Russia as “the most acute threat” to its security.
There has been no response from the Russian embassy in London to the news of the accusations.
Last November, Britain’s domestic spy chief said more than 400 suspected Russian spies had been expelled from Europe, striking the “most significant strategic blow” against Moscow in recent history.
Bulgarians accused of being Russian spies appear in UK court
https://arab.news/psngd
Bulgarians accused of being Russian spies appear in UK court
- They did not enter a plea at this stage and were remanded in custody until their next appearance at London’s Old Bailey court on Oct. 13
- Prosecutor Kathryn Selby told Westminster Magistrates’ Court the defendants were accused of being part of an organized network
Ukraine president to meet European allies after Trump criticism
- Talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough
- President Donald Trump accuses Ukrainian leader of not reading the US proposal to end the war with Russia
LONDON: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was due to meet with European allies in London on Monday, after President Donald Trump accused him of not reading the US proposal to end the war with Russia.
It comes after days of talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough, with Zelensky committing to further negotiations.
The Ukrainian president will be received in London by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, along with the German chancellor and French president to discuss the negotiations.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is meanwhile expected in Washington on Monday, where she will meet her American counterpart Marco Rubio.
“The UK and US will reaffirm their commitment to reaching a peace deal in Ukraine,” the Foreign Office in London said, announcing Cooper’s visit.
Moscow has meanwhile continued to strike its neighbor, wounding at least nine people overnight Sunday to Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
‘Disappointed’
Zelensky said he joined his negotiators for a “very substantive and constructive” call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during the Miami negotiations.
“Ukraine is committed to continuing to work honestly with the American side to bring about real peace,” Zelensky said on Telegram, adding that the parties agreed “on the next steps and the format of the talks with America.”
But Trump criticized his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday, telling reporters “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago.”
Witkoff and Kushner had met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last week, with Moscow rejecting parts of the US proposal.
French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of Monday’s talks slammed what he called Russia’s “escalatory path.”
“We will continue these efforts with the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which no robust and lasting peace will be possible,” Macron wrote on X.
He added: “We must continue to exert pressure on Russia to compel it to choose peace.”
Hot and cold
Washington’s initial plan to bring an end to the almost four-year war involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not been able to win on the battlefield in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.
But the nature of the security guarantees that Ukraine could get has so far been shrouded in uncertainty, beyond an initial plan saying that jets to defend Kyiv could be based in Poland.
Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially embracing Putin and chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.
But he has also grown frustrated that his efforts to persuade Putin to end the war, including a summit in Alaska, have failed to produce results and he recently slapped sanctions on Russian oil firms.
