Five charged under the Official Secrets Act with spying for Russia to ‘conduct espionage,’ says CPS

Five Bulgarians who were arrested under the Official Secrets Act have now been formally charged with spying for Russia to “conduct espionage.”

The group were arrest and accused of conspiring to gather information useful to an enemy between August 2020 and February 2023 and will attend Westminster’s Magistrates Court on 26 September.

In February they were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command under the Official Secrets Act.

Nick Price, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said, “The CPS has authorised a charge of conspiracy to conduct espionage against three men and two women suspected of spying for Russia.

“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 an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety 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 intention under section 4 of the Identity Documents Act 2010.”