A trial is underway in Britain, where prosecutors accuse three Bulgarians of being part of a Russian spy ring that targeted Ukrainian soldiers. The soldiers were training to use the Patriot air defense system at the U.S. military base in Stuttgart, Germany.
Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tihomir Ivanchev are on trial. They allegedly participated in a spy network operated by a Russian agent named Jan Marsalak.
British prosecutor Alison Morgan told the jury in London they planned a half dozen operations from Britain. She says the men and two others were to stage a fake protest outside the Kazakh embassy in London. Authorities accused Marsalek of giving the instructions.
The prosecutor said Marsalek gave orders to surveil the American base in Stuttgart. The surveillance happened between October and November 2022 as the Russian invasion of Ukraine was ongoing. However, police arrested the suspects, cutting the operation short.
Morgan believes the information used in the surveillance would’ve been used to track soldiers who were deployed to use surface-to-air missiles in Ukraine.
She called it a serious crime to try to gather information to know precisely where Ukrainian soldiers, with this type of specific deployment, might be in the future.
Ivanova, Gaberova and Ivanchev have all pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to gather information useful to an enemy. Their trial is on track to last into February.