Desk:Six Bulgarian nationals have been sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison for their involvement in a large-scale Russian espionage operation on UK soil, according to The Metro. The group, known as “The Minions”, worked for Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, and used movie-inspired code names, with the leader going by “Jackie Chan” and his deputy using “Mad Max” or “Jean-Claude Van Damme”.
According to The Metro, the operation, described as one of the largest and most complex ever uncovered in the UK, targeted journalists, including Bellingcat’s Christo Grozev, and a Kazakh former politician. The spies plotted to kidnap and use “honeytraps” to gather information, tracking their targets across several European countries, including Austria, Spain, Germany, and Montenegro.
The group’s activities were orchestrated by alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, who directed the operation from abroad. Police discovered over 100,000 messages on the leader’s Telegram account, which helped them uncover the operation and track down the individuals involved.
Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “The strength of the investigation into the group’s surveillance operations left the ringleaders – Orlin Roussev and Bizer Dzhambazov – with no option but to plead guilty to the charges they faced.
“As shown in footage from his initial interviews, Roussev firmly denied carrying out any espionage activity for Russia. However, before he was due to stand trial, he admitted that he had been part of the conspiracy to spy.”
“This was in large part due to the detailed analysis of more than 200,000 digital messages and hundreds of items seized from Roussev’s home address.”
“The investigation team worked incredibly hard to piece together a complex and wide-ranging conspiracy that I would describe as espionage on an industrial scale.”
“The significant jail sentences handed to the group reflect the serious threat they posed to the safety and interests of the UK, as well as targets across Europe.”
“This case is a clear example of the increasing amount of state threat casework we are dealing with in the UK. It also highlights a relatively new phenomenon whereby espionage is being ‘outsourced’ by certain states.”
“Regardless of the form the threat takes, this investigation shows that we will take action to identify and disrupt any such activity that puts UK national security and the safety of the public at risk.”