Roman Dobrokhotov, an investigative journalist, was watched by three Bulgarian spies based in the UK who were working for Moscow under Kremlin orders – and believes his ‘life was at risk’
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Met Police arrest three Bulgarians part of Russian spy operation
A journalist said he is “lucky to be alive” after being tracked and targeted by an intricate UK-based Russian spy ring.
Investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov was watched by three Bulgarian spies based in the UK who were working for Moscow. Vanya Gaberova, 30, Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday of being part of one of the “largest and most complex” enemy operations to be uncovered on UK soil.
In an interview, Mr Dobrokhotov, who was followed across Europe by the spies in November 2022, told the BBC : “I’m very lucky to be alive actually. I think assassination was one of the options that they reviewed.” He said the order to target him must have come from the Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. “In this dictatorship, you would never take responsibility on your own to do such a political stuff,” he said. “You will always have a direct order from the president.”
Ivanova, Gaberova and Ivanchev spied on an “industrial scale”, putting lives and national security at risk, the court heard. They will be sentenced alongside ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, his second-in-command Biser Dzhambazov, 43, and Ivan Stoyanov, 33, who admitted their roles in the spy ring.
The group were directed by alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian businessman wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard. Mr Dobrokhotov told the BBC the spies were “clumsy”, but he was still concerned for his safety.
During the trial, the court had heard how another investigative journalist Christo Grozev was also targeted after he exposed Russian links to the Novichok poisoning and the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane in July 2014. He was followed from Vienna to a conference in Valencia in Spain, with Ivanova able to get close enough on the plane to record the PIN number on his phone with a camera on the strap of her bag after the spies acquired his flight manifest.
Marsalek discussed kidnapping Mr Dobrokhotov by boat, the trial was told. “The risk was that me and Christo (Grozev) would be killed,” Mr Dobrokhotov told the BBC. “And the fact that the spies were very clumsy doesn’t mean anything. You know because in the case of the Skripal poisoning they also did all the possible mistakes and behaved in a very stupid way but they still poisoned Skripal and his daughter and murdered a UK citizen.
“The fact that they are very, very unprofessional, very clumsy, very stupid, still doesn’t mean that they are not dangerous.” Mr Dobrokhotov is an investigative journalist and founder of The Insider, a media organisation which was formerly based in Russia.
Two of the Bulgarian spies were known as “The Brunette Twins” and toured Europe setting honey traps while plotting to kidnap opponents of Vladimir Putin. Lab-assistant Katrin Ivanova, 33, and beautician Vanya Gaberova, 30, operated from a guest house in Great Yarmouth. They lived as if they were in a James Bond film, snooping on dissidents with secret cameras, attempting to lure investigative journalists with suggestive pictures and sharing the same spy boss lover.
The Old Bailey was told members of the ring planned to manufacture sexual encounters with prominent targets. The three defendants made no reaction as the verdicts were delivered on Friday. Mr Justice Hilliard KC remanded the defendants into custody until sentencing between May 7 and May 12.
Bodycam footage showed the moment Bulgarian Orlin Roussev was apprehended at his home at a former guesthouse in Great Yarmouth at about 6am on February 8, 2023. Officers yelled as they entered the home, ordering anyone inside to “stay where you are”.
One officer opened a door to a room filled with boxes, with Orlin being seen on the far side. The officer ordered him to stay in place as police carried out searches of other rooms. While being held in place by the officer, Roussev tried in vain to throw police off, claiming: “I think it’s the wrong place.” But it became clear the mountain of evidence found in the home would be used against him in court.
He was later led around the house and told to sit down while the officer with the bodycam recording searched other parts of the house. Inside, police found IT equipment worth hundreds of thousands of pounds that was piled up, in what Roussev branded the “Indiana Jones garage”.
