TWO women who worked for a “highly sophisticated” Russian spy network in the UK have been identified.
According to the BBC, it is suspected that Bulgarian citizens Cvetelina Gencheva and Tsvetanka Doncheva were part of a sophisticated and dangerous surveillance operation known as a “honey-trap.”
Airport worker Gencheva was tracked down by the BBC but refused to comment on the spy ring when quizzed both over the phone and in a letter.
Doncheva was also approached in Vienna, Austria and completely denied being herself before quickly walking off, according to reports.
A number of other Bulgarians are still yet to be sentenced for their roles in spying for Russia as part of the same London cell.
Police described the dangerous network as a “highly sophisticated” operation that put lives at risk.
The spy ring, which conducted espionage activities on behalf of Vladimir Putin’s government in the UK while engaging in romantic relationships with each other, was recently apprehended.
The group plotted honeypot stings and conducted spying missions on behalf of Russia across Europe from Britain for lavish sums of money.
It was run by former city tech worker Orlin Roussev, 46, and targeted Putin’s opponents as well as assisting the Russian war effort against Ukraine.
Katrin Ivanova, a glamorous lab assistant aged 33, and Vanya Gaberova, a 30-year-old beautician, have already been found guilty of espionage crimes under the Official Secrets Act in a trial at the Old Bailey.
Gaberova’s painter and decorator ex-boyfriend Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, of Enfield, North London, was also convicted of spying charges.
In court, two other mystery women who took part in surveillance operations across Europe had been mentioned.
Gencheva and Doncheva are believed to be these women involved in the group.
Gencheva is accused of using her job in the aviation industry to obtain private flight details of people the cell targeted.
Spies followed the people onto planes and were booked in nearby seats, getting so close as to see what was being typed into their targets’ mobiles phones, even at one stage identifying a Pin number for a phone belonging to
In one instance, journalist Roman Dobrokhotov was said to have been followed onto a plane by a number of spies.
During the journey they managed to uncover his pin number for a phone, the court heard.
Gencheva was also part of a team, made up Roussev and Ivanova, who were sent to Berlin to spy on Dobrokhotov.
During the trial she was known as “Cvetka” or “Sveti”, say the BBC.
Doncheva was also tracked down and revealed to be the other woman at the heart of the spy operation.
She was paid to take part in an anti-Ukraine propaganda campaign which saw neo-Nazi linked stickers placed on war memorials.
The act was designed to appear as if Ukrainians had placed the stickers.
During the trial she was known as “Tsveti”.
One of her other roles within the group saw Doncheva run surveillance on senior Austrian officials.
These included the head of the Secret Service Omar Haijawi-Pirchner and Austrian investigative journalist Anna Thalhammer.
Doncheva was arrested by Austrian police in December.
She told investigators while questioned she conducted surveillance after being asked by friend Gaberova.
The issue of Russian spies are feared to be a growing trend, says counter-terror chief Commander Dominic Murphy.
Growing trend of Russian spying on British soil
BY Mike Sullivan
A counter-terrorism chief has warned of the growing trend of Russia using criminal proxies to spy on British soil.
Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command vowed never to take his “eye off the ball” as he hailed his team’s success.
He said: “This is one of the largest and most complex examples of a group working for a foreign state to conduct intelligence surveillance operations here in the UK so it is a very significant case and I am very proud of the investigation team and the success they have had.
“This investigation uncovered spying on behalf of the Russian state on an industrial case, in this case committed by a group of Bulgarians contracted by an individual to conduct that spying on behalf of Russia.
“As the UK becomes a more hostile environment as a result of our work we will see them increasingly use proxies to conduct their activities.”
The ring was smashed in raids on properties in London and ringleader Orlin Roussev’s address in Great Yarmouth in February 2023, where police uncovered a treasure trove of hi-tech spyware.
On the challenges faced by enemy states operating on UK soil, he said: “Within counter-terrorism policing we are seeing more than 20% of our demand now coming from threat posed from foreign states to our national security so this is an ever growing challenge for us.
“We are committed to working closely with intelligence agencies in this country and our international partners to disrupt activity by foreign states.
“We have been working hard to make the UK a hostile working operating environment for these countries and this is an example of that because this group were contracted to operate on behalf of Russian intelligence services because this is a hostile environment for them to operate in directly here.
“So some positives but we will never take our eye off the ball working with our partners to keep the UK safe.”
