Journalist targeted by Russian spy ring said ordeal was ‘deeply detabilising'

A journalist targeted by a Russian spy ring operating out of a rundown UK guesthouse has said the surveillance on him was 'terrifying, disorientating and deeply destabilising'.
Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev submitted a victim impact statement to the court in which he said the 'damage' caused by the Bulgarian nationals involved in the spy network was 'ongoing'.
Female 'honeytrap' agents Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30, and competitive swimmer Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March of spying on an 'industrial scale', putting lives and national security at risk.
They are due to face sentencing at the same court, alongside ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, his second-in-command Biser Dzhambazov, 44, and Ivan Stoyanov, 33, who admitted their roles.
On the second day of the four-day sentencing hearing, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC also spoke of how Kazakhstan dissident Bergey Ryskaliyev had been forced to hire private security due to the threat posed by the defendants.
Ms Morgan first read Mr Grozev's statement to the court on Thursday: 'Their surveillance and targeting have had a profound and enduring impact on both my personal and professional life, as well as the lives of my family members.
' Learning only in retrospect that foreign agents have been monitoring my movements, communications and home, surveying my loved ones over an extended period – has been terrifying, disorientating and deeply destabilising.
'The consequences have not faded with time – they have fundamentally changed how I live my daily life and how I relate to the world around me.'
Mr Grozev was targeted after he exposed Russian links to the Novichok poisoning and the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane in July 2014.
He was followed from Vienna to a conference in Valencia in Spain, with Ivanova able to get close enough on the plane to record the PIN number on his phone with a camera on the strap of her bag after the spies acquired his flight manifest.
Ms Morgan said Mr Grozev has had to 'change day-to-day routines' because he 'may still be at risk from others operating in the UK and elsewhere'.
Mr Grozev said his work as a journalist has also been impacted as some of his sources now feel unable to speak with him because they are 'too afraid'.
His statement concluded: 'The actions of these individuals have had a deep, lasting and destabilising effect on my life and the lives of those I love.
'The consequences are not easily reversed – for my family and me, the damage is ongoing.'
Ms Morgan said Mr Ryskaliyev felt 'concerned that the threat has not been fully eliminated' despite the defendants being arrested.
His statement read: 'Suspicious individuals continue to appear near my home and workplace, which emphasises the need to stay vigilant.'
Mr Ryskaliyev was under surveillance from the spy ring at two west London addresses, One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge and Warwick Chambers, the court previously heard.
The court was also told that targeting Mr Ryskaliyev in November 2021 would have helped Kazakhstan and served to cultivate relations with Russia.
Speaking about his family, Mr Ryskaliyev said: 'Despite the fear, we do not allow it to paralyse us.
'As a result of the threat, I've had to put enhanced security measures in place – these include hiring private security and changing the logistics of my movements.'
He said, despite the significant cost of having security, Mr Ryskaliyev said: 'It is a necessary investment in our safety.'
Mr Ryskaliyev said his friends and family had previously confronted Stoyanov when he had sat outside his address, adding that the fact that it was Russia conducting surveillance 'was more concerning and felt more threatening'.
His statement continued: 'I'm grateful to the United Kingdom for granting me asylum and protection.
'This country has become my second home, and I feel it is my moral duty to protect it.'
Mr Ryskaliyev concluded: 'We will not be intimidated. We will fight. We will expose. We will protect those who have chosen freedom and justice.'
The spy ring was directed by alleged agent Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian businessman wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard.
Marsalek acted as a go-between for Russian intelligence and Roussev, who led the operation from a former guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
It is believed to be one of the 'largest and most complex' enemy operations to be uncovered on UK soil.
The network engaged in a series of surveillance and intelligence operations over three years in which spies were referred to as Minions – characters from the animated film Despicable Me.
Roussev deployed the Minions with second-in-command Dzhambazov, who was in a love triangle with two of the team – his partner Ivanova and beautician Gaberova, jurors heard.
Spyware was recovered from the seaside hotel, described by Roussev in messages as his 'Indiana Jones garage' – including audiovisual spy devices hidden inside a rock, men's ties, a Coke bottle and a Minions cuddly toy.
The defendants, who are in custody, face sentences of up to 14 years in jail for the activities in the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Times

20 minutes ago

• Times

Uffizi museum tears a strip off selfie takers after a painting is damaged

The director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence has promised a crackdown on selfies after a tourist damaged an 18th-century painting while posing in front of it for a photograph. The visitor tore a hole in the bottom corner of the canvas, a ­portrait of Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, painted in 1712, by Anton Domenico Gabbiani. The man was apparently trying to assume the same pose as the subject of the painting but stepped backwards and lost his balance. He leant against the canvas which was left with a tear at the level of the prince's right boot. The visitor was immediately identified by museum staff and reported to police for causing culpable damage. The painting was removed for repair, with experts concluding that the damage was relatively minor. The incident occurred on Saturday in the ground-floor rooms hosting the Florence and Europe: Arts of the 18th Century at the Uffizi exhibition, the first under the gallery's new director, Simone Verde. A trade union representing museum workers said the tourist had tripped on a low platform intended to keep visitors at an appropriate distance from the paintings. It had previously highlighted the risk to the museum authorities after another ­visitor had tripped but without causing any damage. 'Visitors are looking at the paintings, not at the ground. Those platforms are unsuitable and too dark,' said Silvia Barlacchi, a staff representative. Verde said: 'The problem of visitors coming to museums to make memes or take selfies for social media is rampant: we will set very precise limits, preventing behaviour that is not compatible with the sense of our institutions and respect for cultural heritage. The tourist, who was immediately identified, will be prosecuted.' The incident is the latest in a series of accidents caused by visitors behaving unwisely in Italian museums. In another episode captured on video, a man posed for a photograph pretending to sit on a fragile chair covered in Swarovski crystals in the Palazzo Maffei museum in Verona. The sculpture by the contemporary artist Nicola Bolla reproduces a famous wooden chair from a Vincent van Gogh painting, but is not intended for sitting on. Again the subject of the photo lost his balance and ended up sitting heavily on the chair, causing its partial collapse. The couple fled the museum without informing staff of the damage and as yet have not been identified. Earlier this year a 16th-century painting by the Renaissance artist Moretto was damaged after a museum visitor in Brescia tripped and fell against it, while three years ago an American tourist fell against a painting by the Baroque master Guido Reni at the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Visitors to the home of the Mona Lisa share the experience with hordes of smartphone-wielding peers, who are liable to impair viewing pleasure even when they don't trip and fall. The Louvre has announced plans to remedy the situation by creating a 3,000sq m exhibition space entirely dedicated to ­Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. The extra space will reduce queues, jostling and the thicket of phone cameras obscuring the view when the Louvre renovation is completed in 2031.

Times

20 minutes ago

• Times

How accurate is The Gold series 2? We separate fact from fiction

T he Gold's second series has been a fascinating depiction of the aftermath of the Brink's-Mat robbery as detective Brian Boyce (played with upright integrity by Hugh Bonneville) attempted to seize the missing gold and laundered money and bring the perpetrators to justice — most notably John 'Goldfinger' Palmer (played with wolfish charm by Tom Cullen). Each episode starts with a disclaimer that, while inspired by real events, 'some characters, elements and chronologies have been created or changed for dramatic purposes'. The series writer, Neil Forsyth, who also co-wrote a book, The Gold: The Real Story Behind Brink's Mat, said: 'I don't think it is a more invented story. There are fewer people convicted for the activities we show in this series, so there's automatically less coverage and you have to be a bit more careful in certain ways how you tell the story. Some people co-operated with the authorities and received anonymity as a result. It's underpinned by a huge amount of research.'

Sky News

43 minutes ago

• Sky News

Iranian threat to UK could increase after US strikes, says cabinet minister

The threat to the UK from Iran is already at a "significant level" and could increase following the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, a cabinet minister has told Sky News. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said that "not a week goes by" without an Iranian cyberattack on the country's critical national infrastructure. Speaking on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Mr Reynolds said: "There is Iranian activity on the streets of the UK, which is wholly unacceptable." And he said it would be "naive" to think the threat will not escalate as Tehran could seek to retaliate against the US, Israel and their allies. Early on Sunday, the American military struck three sites as it joined Israel 's effort to destroy Iran 's nuclear programme. B-2 bombers dropped 14 bunker-busting GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, each weighing 30,000lbs. Iran has maintained its programme is for peaceful purposes only. He called on Iran not to retaliate, saying the government "must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier". Mr Reynolds said Iran had a choice - "Do they want to continue being an agent of instability in the region and the wider world? Where has that got them? Where has it got the Iranian people? "There's a better course of action for Iran to take here, and I think they should consider that." Last October, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said authorities had stopped 20 state-backed plots hatched by Iran in the UK since 2022. In February 2023, a London-based Iranian news station said it was forced to shut its UK headquarters over alleged threats from Tehran and fears for the safety of its journalists. Iran International TV said it "reluctantly" closed its west London studios and moved the operation to its offices in Washington DC. The broadcaster said the move followed warnings from the Metropolitan Police that there were "serious" and "grave" concerns about "hostile intentions of foreign states". In December 2023, a Chechen-born man was sentenced to three years and six months in prison after being found guilty of spying on the London-based dissident Iranian TV station to help terror plotters. Magomed-Husejn Dovtaev, 31, was accused of conducting surveillance on the west London headquarters of Iran International as part of a plan by others to carry out a terror attack. He was found guilty of one charge of attempting to collect information useful for terrorism. Meanwhile a British-Iranian journalist, who was told by the Metropolitan Police to leave her UK home for her own safety last year after Iran International presenter Pouria Zeraati was stabbed in the leg in London, has warned of the "dangers" if the "regime survives". Sima Sabet, who also worked for the Persian-language television news channel, told Sky's Emma Birchley: "What I want, and what I hope, is this Islamic Republic is gone, because the more this regime survives, the more danger to the world it would be, the more danger to international peace, and also… the more danger to the Iranian people." She added: "There has to be a way that this transition is going to be peaceful. Iran cannot be bombed and then left on its own. So there must be an answer for it. There must be an international effort for us. So Iranian people can have a very smooth transition into democracy." Ms Sabet also spoke of her life being under threat in the UK. She said she is not "back to my normal life", adding: "I have to still cover my face. I have to still be very mindful of where I go, who I see." Two men will face trial next year accused of attacking Mr Zeraati in Wimbledon in March 2024. The defendants are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and wounding. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have called on Iran's leaders to enter negotiations and "not to take any further action that could destabilise the region". Sir Keir urged Britons in Israel and Palestinian territories to make contact with the Foreign Office as it prepares for an evacuation flight early next week. Speaking to Sky News, the prime minister said: "I urge all citizens to make contact with the Foreign Office so that we can facilitate whatever support is needed." The Israeli government said about 22,000 tourists are seeking to board evacuation flights but it is unclear how many of those are from the UK.