LONDON — Five Bulgarian nationals suspected of spying for Russia in the U.K. will face criminal charges, British prosecutors announced Thursday.
The three men and two women “will be charged with conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the state between 30 August 2020 and 8 February 2023,” said the Crown Prosecution Service in a statement.
The defendants — Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, Katrin Ivanova, 31, Ivan Stoyanov, 31, and Vanya Gaberova, 29 — will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
In February, officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Operations Unit arrested the five on suspicion of an offense under the U.K.’s Official Secrets Act.
