Sixth person charged with allegedly spying for Russia in UK

A sixth Bulgarian national has been charged with allegedly spying for Russia and will appear in court on Wednesday.

Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 38, has been charged with conspiring to obtain, collect, record, publish or communicate documents or information which might be or was intended to be directly or indirectly useful for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state.

Ivanchev, of Acton, west London, was arrested on 7 February as part of an ongoing investigation being led by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command. He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Five other Bulgarian nationals, three men and two women, charged with the same offence are due to go on trial in October.

They are: Orlin Roussev, 46, Bizer Dzhambazov, 42, Katrin Ivanova, 32, Ivan Stoyanov, 32, and Vanya Gaberova, 29.

All were were 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.

Mr Roussev is alleged to have organised and managed spying operations from the UK, the BBC reported.

Commander Dominic Murphy, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “A sixth suspect was identified and arrested as a result of inquiries made following the previous five arrests in this investigation, and working with the Crown Prosecution Service, a charge has now been brought.

“Mr Ivanchev has the right to a fair trial, and we would therefore urge people not to publish anything, on social media or in news media, that creates a substantial risk of seriously prejudicing these active criminal proceedings.”

The other defendants have previously appeared at the Old Bailey accused of conspiring to gather information that would be useful to an enemy between August 2020 and February 2023.

Nick Price, the head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division said: “It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”