Man accused of spying for Russia ‘spoke to MI5’
A defendant in an alleged Russian spy ring case told police he had spoken to MI5 when he was arrested, the Old Bailey has heard.
The court was played a February 2024 interview by Tihomir Ivanchev in which he told a police officer “I met someone from MI5 and we had several conversations”.
Ivanchev, 39, Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30, all from London, deny conspiracy to espionage.
Ms Ivanova also denied possessing multiple false identity documents.
Orlin Roussev, 46, and another man, Biser Dzhambazov, 43, from London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage.
Ms. Gaberova was arrested in February 2023, and police body footage showed Mr. Ivanchev later arriving at her apartment and trying to talk to her.
He told a police officer that Ms Gaberova was his “ex-girlfriend” and he noticed her beauty salon was closed and wondered: “Is she still alive?”.
The jury heard Ms Gaberova was interviewed four times by police.
In an interview, she told police in a prepared statement: “I am not a Russian spy.”
She initially refused to reveal her iPhone 13 passcode, but provided it in a later interview.
Ms Ivanova was also interviewed by police in February 2023 and said in a statement: “I deny conducting any surveillance activities on behalf of Russia. I have no ties to Russia.”
She said: “I have been living and working in the UK since 2012. I pay tax and I love living here.”
She responded “no comment” to police interview questions.
Mr Ivanchev was arrested at his home in Enfield, London, on February 7, 2024, a year after his first arrest.
The jury was played the entire hour and 47-minute interview he gave to police later on the day of his arrest, in which he chose not to have a lawyer present.
Mr Ivanchev told police that Ms Gaberova met Zhanbazov in 2021 and “traveled with him several times”.
The jury heard Mr Ivanchev said Dzhanbazov told him he was an Interpol agent.
In a February 2024 interview, he said Zhabazov “needs more people” and that he initially thought he would take photos and videos of “criminals” who would be arrested.
When police asked him if he thought he was “chasing the bad guys,” Ivanchev said “yes.”
Ivanchev said he initially viewed it as a “paid vacation,” but once he started “using my brain more, I started realizing there was something fishy.”
“It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said in an interview at Hammersmith police station.
Ivanchev told police he was initially paid 200 euros a day, which was paid through Zhabazov’s Revolut account.
He said he had “been to Montenegro a few times and a few times to Austria.”
He thought his first trip was to Vienna, where the “target” was “Mr. Grozev,” and he stayed there for three or four days.
Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev exposed Russia’s links to the 2018 Salisbury attack.
The trial was told that the defendant worked under Rousseff, who in turn received instructions from Jan Masalek, an “intermediary for Russian intelligence services”.
The jury has seen cable messages between Marsalek and Rousseff targeting the journalist.
Ivanchev said that after Ms Gaberova was arrested, he told MI5 “people” that he planned to visit Bulgaria from the UK.
The jury watched his police interview, in which Mr Ivanchev said border police were waiting for him at the airport and that he “spent … several hours explaining the same situation to them”.
Ivanchev said his phone and laptop were confiscated by border police and he was told they could get them back a few days later.
He said “I knew I would probably get a call at some point” and “I gave them my address and other information.”
During the trial, jurors were told that the five Bulgarian nationals were involved in six operations targeting individuals and locations of Russian state interest over nearly three years.
The trial continues.
