A London-based lab technician accused of spying for Moscow has been questioned in court as to why she did not challenge her partner when he suggested they abduct or kill a man wanted by Russia for a €500,000 reward.
Katrin Ivanova, 33, was forwarded a message on 23 February 2022 suggesting that the money was on offer if she and other members of an alleged spy ring of Bulgarians living in the UK could capture Kirill Kachur, a Russian, in Montenegro.
The message, sent by Bizer Dzhambazov, said: “They are offering a €500,000 reward plus 150,000 euro operating costs for this one’s head,” after a period of several weeks of attempted surveillance of Kachur in the Balkan country.
The message continued: “They said that if Kiril dies from an incident during his capture no one will get cross” and it suggested they “have a think” about how they might proceed, although there was no evidence that a kidnap plot developed.
Alison Morgan KC, appearing for the prosecution, asked Ivanova under cross-examination why she did not immediately push back at the suggestion. “Where do we have the message from you [saying] this is unacceptable?” she said. “You knew perfectly well what is going on?”
Ivanova replied “no” and Morgan pressed her again. She “knew nothing” about the idea of a kidnap, the prosecuting counsel asked, to which Ivanova repeated “no”. Morgan said: “Mr Dzhambazov is bringing you in on a secret,” and the defendant again replied “no”.
Ivanova is one of three Bulgarians living in the UK charged with spying on behalf of Russia between August 2020 and February 2023, and is the first to give evidence in her defence, in a rare espionage trial at the Old Bailey.
The abduction message by Dzhambazov was originally forwarded from the spy ring’s leader, Orlin Roussev. Both men have already pleaded guilty to espionage, with Roussev accused of being directed by a Moscow-based Russian agent, Jan Marsalek.
Ivanova said she had been told by Dzhambazov that Kachur was wanted by Interpol on fraud charges on behalf of the Russian authorities and her first task was to try to locate him in Montenegro in late 2021 and early 2022. She was paid €200 a day plus expenses for her work, she said.
The lab technician said she believed what Dzhambazov had told her about Kachur at the time and that “since I was 17” he had looked “after my best interests”. But she went on to acknowledge that she now considered she had been “100% used” by Dzhambazov and said she had been asked by him and Roussev to do secretarial tasks.
Dzhambazov, who she had first met when she was 17, was Ivanova’s partner at the time of their arrest in February 2023. The court has heard he also had a relationship with Vanya Gaberova, 30, another of the defendants, and he had been found in bed with her by police on their arrest.
Ivanova acknowledged that her understanding of what she was involved with had changed. Expressing regret about her actions, she told the court: “If this trial was held earlier last year, my explanation would be completely different. I was in denial about everything.”
At one point in February 2022, Dzhambazov asked Ivanova to meet two Russians in Budva, Montenegro, who she said she had been told were “victims of Kachur”. The prosecution claims the two are Russian spies, but Ivanova denied knowing they were agents.
Ivanova said she met them for 30 minutes in a cafe and she showed them photos of Kachur’s partner. She described the pair as a young woman and an older man and said the conversation was difficult because they did not speak English and she said she did not speak Russian. “I thought she was with her sugar daddy,” she said.
Another plot Ivanova and other members of the spy ring are accused of is the surveillance of Christo Grozev, an investigative journalist who is noted for his work uncovering Russian spies operating in Europe.
Ivanova was involved in trying to photograph Grozev at three locations in Vienna and said she was doing so because she was told by Dzhambazov that he was “a corrupt journalist” who was linked to an arms dealer. She said she did not check whether what Dzhambazov was telling her was true because she trusted him.
The case continues.
