"Honey Trap": Spies from the Russian Federation wanted to steal Grozev and Dobrokhotov's journalists
Reuters writes about it. This information was reported on Tuesday in the London court in the case of five Bulgarians in the Central Criminal Court of London (Old Bailey) a few days ago. Now the jury was heard in details as accused in 2021 (when Dobrokhotov fled from Russia from persecution) and in 2022 was monitored and discussed in correspondence plans for his abduction. It was one of several operations that the spy cell planned.
Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberov, 30 years old, and Tikhomir Ivanchev, 39 years old, are accused of belonging to a complex spy network, managed by a Russian agent named Jan Marsalek, and who pursued, in particular, dissidents.
According to the investigation, the citizen of Austria Jan Marsalek, whom prosecutors called "a mediator who acted in the interests of Russian intelligence", and the head of Central on the spot, Orlin Rusiev, in August 2022 discussed the possibility of Dobrokhov's export on the boat. Orlin Rusiev and another accused bead (Max) Jambazov had previously pleaded guilty. Three more of the defendants (Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tikhomir Ivanchev) are rejected.
It is noteworthy, but during the arrest of Gabero and Jambazov was found bare in the same bed. The abduction of Roman Dobhotov conspirators called "the operation of a fishing boat", Marsalek and Rusev discussed how good it would be to have a successful operation in Britain after a failure with Sergei Skripal poisoning. The Insider Dobrokhotov, together with Bellingcat, published several investigations into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.
In particular, they named the names of the suspects of the crime - real and fictional - and found out how they got Salisbury. Rusev and Marsalek discussed options with the sea on a private boat or yacht from Norich or Gala on the east coast of England.
According to him, four people had to take part in the operation: Jambazov, a man named Ivan Stoyanov (he is not among the defendants), some special forces from Bulgaria and some 68-year-old Bulgarian "very, very experienced sea wolf, The retired specialist of the military fleet is still Soviet times. " Rusev wrote that this man has two small yachts and he has participated many times in the race between Southampton on the southern coast of England and Spain or Portugal.
Prosecutor Elison Morgan stated that in 2021, the group monitored Christ Grozev, a citizen of Bulgaria working in Bellingcat. Grozev was a leading investigator on Bellingcat reports on the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal 2018 in Salisbury, England. Morgan stated that Gaberova sent a Grozev request to add a friend to Facebook within an attempt to collect information about him, managed by Marsalek and Rusev.
"It seems that Grozev is captured by Vana and in love with her," - wrote Rusev Marsalek in the message shortly after Grozev accepted a request for addition to a friend on Facebook. Marsalek expressed fear that Gaberova could "fall in love with him", but Rusev replied: "Vanya is very, very assertive and absolutely independent. True sexual bitch.
" The prosecutor also reported that Ivanova, Gaberova and Jambazov went to the Hotel in the Spanish city of Valencia, where Gaberova took a picture with the founder of Bellingcat Eliot Giggins. They also discussed the opportunity to select a laptop and a phone from him and deliver them to the Russian embassy, burn his property, steal it and deliver it to Moscow or kill.
The prosecution party also announced the correspondence of the group with the defendant Katrin Ivanova, who in November 2021, three months after Dobrokhov's escape from Russia, monitored him, taking a ticket to one flight with him and removing him with a hidden camera. During the flight, Ivanov wrote in a chat group, which also included Rusev: she reported that Dobrokhotov had two phones that he had entered the social network that listens to music and solves the court.
Ivanova buzzed the PIN code of Dobrokhotov's phone and handed it to the chat. The prosecution says the code was almost correct - just an extra figure at the end. On Tuesday, the jury was heard that the tracking of the Grozev in Ukraine was stopped before the invasion of Russia. Rusev and Marsalek corresponded in February 2022, shortly before a full-scale invasion, and at one point Marsalek wrote: "Our friends are worried that our presence may interfere with another operation in Ukraine. land.
" The court learned that the guest house in the Great Yarmouth, in which Rusev lived, was "stuffed" with technical equipment used for espionage. In the period of the intended conspiracy at the disposal of the group there was 221 mobile phone, 258 hard drives, 495 SIM cards, 33 audio recording devices, 55 video recording devices, 11 drones, 16 radio stations and three devices for capturing IMSI, which are high-tech equipment and use data on the devices used nearby.
The court found that they also found devices for listening and mushing Wi-Fi, as well as 75 passports and documents certifying a person, including 55 on the names of others. According to the investigation, these five Bulgaria citizens participated in six espionage operations for three years, which were monitoring people and intelligence of objects that were of interest to Russia. In particular, they wanted to attack the US military base Patch Barracks in Stuttgart at the end of 2022.