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The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
How a Bulgarian spy ring waged Putin's hybrid war on British soil
Sitting in the unlikely setting of the Haydee Hotel, a modest eight-room guest house in Great Yarmouth, on the Norfolk coast, a Bulgarian spy called Orlin Roussev sends an encrypted message via Telegram to his controller. He discusses ideas for covert operations to destabilise the Kazakhstan government: 'Hacking Kazakh nuclear power, leaking sex videos and crushing their currency…. also, maybe a deep fake porn video of the son of the president.' 'Yes, these are cool and very feasible,' responds his intelligence handler. 'We need a gay club owner or security who can give an interview that the son of the Kazakh president is a regular gay customer,' adds an excited Roussev. 'Well, make it REAL-FAKE. We must use some actual facts or at least it leaks for the son to have been in London.' 'I know a few of the top UK porn stars and the circles with the elite clubs, SWING etc. We can check or at least create a real fake story.' 'Perfect.' That exchange took place on 31 August 2022 and is one of 80,000 Telegram messages Roussev exchanged with his spymaster codenamed 'Rupert Ticz'. His channel is just one of hundreds of spyware devices seized by police during a raid of his tiny room at the Great Yarmouth guest house. The extraordinary cache included hidden bugs and signal jammers, 88 audio and visual recording devices, 221 mobile phones, 495 SIM cards and 11 drones. Spy cameras were hidden in sunglasses and stuffed toys amid piles of fake identity documents, notably 75 passports and 91 bank cards in various names. The police raid resulted in the prosecution of several Bulgarian nationals under the Official Secrets Act for carrying out illegal surveillance in the UK with plans to burgle, honeytrap, murder and kidnap targets, notably investigative journalists. The prosecution alleged between August 2020 and February 2023, these agents were part of a network gathering intelligence useful to Russia and 'for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the (UK) state'. On Friday, Vanya Gaberova, Katrin Ivanova, and Tihomir Ivanchev wereall found guilty of spying for Russia, in what police have described as 'one of the largest' foreign intelligence operations in the UK. On the surface, the espionage appears to be part of Putin's secret hybrid war against the West. In 2022, the Bulgarian operatives carried out surveillance on Patch Barracks, a US military airbase in Stuttgart that trained Ukrainian soldiers to use US Patriot missiles against Russia. Using highly sophisticated technology, Roussev planned to use IMSI grabbers to hack the mobile phones of Ukrainian soldiers at the barracks. This enabled the Russians to trace the Patriot missiles using information stored on the hacked phones. The spies also focused on the formidable Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev, who exposed Kremlin links to the 2018 Salisbury attacks and was instrumental in uncovering the Russian intelligence attempt to assassinate the anti-Putin dissident Alexei Navalny. Grozev was a prime target and so tracked by the group in different locations in Austria, Spain and Montenegro. Two of the Bulgarian agents planned to engineer a fake romance between him and their accomplice, the London-based Gaberova. This included her sending the journalist a Facebook request, taking pictures of him at a conference in Valencia and eating breakfast at his hotel. The Bulgarians also discussed robbing, kidnapping, killing him and burning down his house – such was the hatred of a journalist who dared to expose the crimes of Putin and his private army, the FSB (Federal Security Service). A second operation targeted another troublesome investigative journalist, Roman Dobrokhotov, founder of The Insider, whose articles displeased the Kremlin. As part of their surveillance, a female spy sat next to him on a flight from Budapest to Berlin, where she used covert recording equipment and captured his iPhone PIN number. During discussions about this operation in 2021, Ticz allegedly commented: 'I would love to kidnap the guy now even more.' But The Independent has discovered an intriguing subplot to this case which highlights the growth of a dark economy for commercial clandestine services, notably deception, psychological warfare and even assassinations. It is plausible that the Bulgarian spies were also operating as espionage mercenaries, motivated by financial and commercial interests or even personal excitement as well as state-directed objectives. Their value as rogue actors was being outside the constraints and oversight associated with state intelligence agencies. The main clue is the identity of the mysterious spymaster Rupert Ticz. He turns out to be the notorious Jan Marsalek, the Austrian businessman wanted in Germany for his part in a £1.6bn fraud after the collapse of the payment company Wirecard. He paid the Bulgarian spies through a UK company called JM Consult Ltd, registered in Greenford, and is now living in Moscow under the Kremlin's protection using a secret identity. Marsalek, while acting as Wirecard's chief operations officer, paid private spy contractors to hack emails and orchestrate disinformation campaigns against journalists. He specialised in blending real facts with fabrications to ensure his deception was more convincing. It is possible he was acting on behalf of the Kremlin. On the surface, the espionage appears to be part of Putin's secret hybrid war against the West However, people who knew him doubt this was his primary motivation and client. 'Marsalek carried himself with the theatrical swagger of a Bond villain audition,' a former senior UK intelligence officer told The Independent. 'His compulsive name-dropping of state intelligence services and loose talk of private operatives on speed dial ready to do his bidding revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of professional intelligence work. 'He was a textbook manifestation of pathological narcissism compounded by adolescent delusions of grandeur. While undoubtedly his financial means and shady contacts meant he could access government-grade technology, his absence of genuine tradecraft was palpable. What he misconstrued as espionage amounted to amateur dramatics. Frankly, I found the man to be a total clown. But that's not to say he was not dangerous – his wealth, his criminal underworld contacts, together with his personality, meant he could cause very serious damage to anyone in his crosshairs.' The next clue that this case may not be a sophisticated Russian operation lies in the poor tradecraft exhibited by the Bulgarian spies and the reckless, risky and brazen antics of the cell members, especially Marsalek. Only one operative, Orlin Roussev, had an intelligence background. He previously owned a signals intelligence company selling communications equipment and worked in financial services. Between 2008 and 2009, he was a strategic adviser to the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy. In December 2020, he was granted EU settled status but then chose the unlikely setting of a guest house in Great Yarmouth as the operating hub of his covert surveillance. The other Bulgarian agents lived quietly in Harrow, and in the west London suburbs of Greenford and Acton. Their cover professions are ingenious and varied. One, Ivan Stoyanov – nicknamed 'The Destroyer' – claimed to be a mixed martial arts fighter. Another, Vanya Gaberova, is a beautician who specialises in eyelashes and runs a salon called Pretty Woman. Biser Dzhambazov had connections at the highest echelons of the Bulgarian government. His contribution was to persuade his long-term girlfriend Katrin Ivanova to take photographs of army barracks. This backfired badly as she then testified against him during the trial and denied being part of a spy ring. Over the course of three years, the Bulgarian spy ring plotted six covert operations which were 'extremely risky' and included attempted abduction, filming their targets, orchestrating direct contact and using the female defendants as sexual bait to gather information. The prosecution's case was based on the Telegram messages between Roussev and Marsalek. Their conversations included how to obtain military equipment on behalf of Russia, the provision of espionage tools and digital devices and arranging physical surveillance against targets of the Russian state. A statement was provided by the deputy national security adviser Matt Collins, who gave 'a high-level HMG assessment of the activity of the suspects and impact on UK security and interests'. But Marsalek was described as 'believed to be linked to the Russian state' – hardly a compelling or convincing indictment. And when he tasked Roussev to discredit the son of the Kazakhstan president, this was justified, said Marsalek, because 'he did not condemn the war in Ukraine'. This comment indicates Marsalek was, at the very least, promiscuous in his allegiances. In their summing up, the prosecution warned the jury the lawyers for the Bulgarian spies would focus on their 'amateurish antics being funny', implying their actions were akin to Inspector Clouseau or Austin Powers rather than James Bond or a John le Carre novel. 'But it's not funny at all,' said the prosecutor. 'They were not stupid. This was high-level espionage with very high stakes.' Appearing today, the cell was jailed for a total of 50 years, with ringleader Roussev sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison. There is no doubt the stakes were high but the involvement of wealthy businessmen like Marsalek in intelligence operations introduces a dangerous new dimension which could disrupt, destabilise and damage an already unstable world. Even the quiet suburban streets of west London and the unassuming guest houses of the Norfolk coast are not immune to the international spying game.
CNN
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Upcoming changes at CIA shine a spotlight on the spy agency's director John Ratcliffe
As one of the last federal agencies to face major changes in President Donald Trump's norm-bending second term, the CIA is bracing for significant cuts and a reorganization that seeks to elevate covert operations by hiring more officers to go in the field and fewer analysts to sit behind computer screens. The coming changes have sharpened the focus on CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who so far has walked a fine line between maintaining favor with the White House and building trust with career rank-and-file officers at the storied spy agency that Trump views as a key part of the so-called 'Deep State.' Up to now, Ratcliffe appears to have insulated the CIA from the kind of political meddling by the White House that many career officials have feared would come with a second Trump administration. Ratcliffe and his deputy Michael Ellis 'may have come to the conclusion that these people are professionals, there really is no deep state out here,' said one former senior intelligence official. 'But now you are pushing against the White House that believes there is.' Several intelligence officials said Ratcliffe seems to spend most of his time across the river at the White House – leaving some in the workforce with the impression he is very 'hands-off,' one US official said. Others said it's not clear to the rank-and-file who is really running the agency, with another former official describing the CIA as 'rudderless' – deepening concerns among some career professionals that the uncertainty will lead to a brain drain as talented officers retire or take Trump's buyout offer. Overall, the sentiment toward Ratcliffe among career officials within CIA headquarters at Langley is lukewarm, multiple current and former US officials told CNN, with one official describing him as 'the least bad option' to serve as Trump's CIA director. 'Being at the White House all the time is a good thing,' a person close to Trump told CNN. 'It would be far more concerning if Ratcliffe was never meeting with the president. It shows he still values him.' So far, Ratcliffe has not made the kind of broad cuts that the administration has demanded of other agencies, despite a clear desire by Trump and his allies to reshape the spy agency. Ratcliffe's relationship with the White House has allowed him the latitude to manage the agency on his own timeline, sources close to the president say. Some career officials see Ratcliffe as quietly acting as a kind of buffer between the White House and the agency. 'As he has learned more about our people and capabilities I think he is wanting to support us, but most of his time is spent downtown and Cabinet focused,' said another US official, adding that 'running the organization is really falling more on' Ratcliffe's deputy, Ellis. 'Director Ratcliffe has made it clear that CIA will pursue President Trump's national security priorities with laser-like focus,' CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons said in a statement to CNN. 'The Agency is determined to provide the President with an unparalleled advantage and, under Director Ratcliffe, it is aggressively doing just that. Any insinuation to the contrary is false and completely baseless.' Ratcliffe, a former Republican Texas congressman, has taken a deliberately under-the-radar approach during his first few months on the job, meeting with Trump behind closed doors at the White House and making selective media appearances. He has also played a key role in helping the administration navigate some of its most pressing foreign policy challenges. In April, Trump sent Ratcliffe to Israel for high-level discussions about the administration's ongoing pursuit of a deal with Iran to surrender its entire nuclear program, according to two sources familiar with the trip. Earlier in Trump's second term, Ratcliffe also quietly helped to secure the release of multiple Americans held in Russia. But, unlike special envoy Steve Witkoff who was credited for the release, Ratcliffe's involvement in those talks was not widely publicized. Ratcliffe's approach to his job stands in stark contrast to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has issued agency-wide directives via social media posts on X and in public pronouncements on Fox News – a difference in style that has not gone unnoticed by career intelligence officials. Ratcliffe has also not made the kind of high-profile blunders that led to the dismissal of former national security advisor Mike Waltz, who added a journalist to a sensitive Signal chat about war planning, and additional scrutiny of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose classified texts to the chat churned headlines for days. However, Ratcliffe's presence and contribution to the now-infamous unsecure chat did raise eyebrows inside the CIA for its sensitive nature. Intelligence sources said there was anger and disbelief that there had been such carelessness using Signal instead of secure communications. Officials were also concerned that sources and methods were revealed. 'It was obvious it was either a human source or drones. Either way, not OK,' said a former high-ranking intelligence official. There are signs that Ratcliffe is walking a fine line: Trump has on at least one occasion expressed frustration that Ratcliffe is not moving faster to fire workers, reorganize the agency, and undo changes made under President Barack Obama, according to a source familiar with the matter. Trump did have some initial skepticism about Ratcliffe before his inauguration, another source familiar with the dynamic acknowledged. However, this person said that, as far as they know, the president has not said anything negative about his CIA director since entering the White House for his second term. Ratcliffe has taken some visible steps toward implementing Trump's vision. He has fired some probationary employees and other officers involved in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; he has also dismissed a senior official who had been targeted by a far-right activist. Many of those officials have challenged their firings in court and legal proceedings are ongoing. In March, Ratcliffe also welcomed Elon Musk to the agency's headquarters for a briefing and publicly commemorated the visit with a photo of the two men standing next to the famous CIA seal. 'He fired all the DEI employees even though they sued. He offered the 'fork in the road' DOGE email, even though CIA had been exempt, then went over and above and offered early retirement. Then he proactively invited Elon out to the agency and talked to him about DOGE ideas he had,' a person who works closely with Ratcliffe said, emphasizing Ratcliffe's attempts to please Trump. And Ratcliffe has allies in the White House: Two sources familiar with the dynamic said Ratcliffe has become 'tight' with Vice President JD Vance. Ratcliffe's relationship with Vance dates back to before Trump's inauguration in January, one of the sources said, noting the two men had several conversations about reforming the CIA prior to assuming their current roles in the president's second administration. That balancing act has made it hard for rank-and-file CIA officers – many of whom are anxious about their careers – to judge how much to trust the new director, who multiple sources said has kept the flow of information inside the agency restricted to an extremely tight inner circle. In one instance, career officials were pleased to hear that a 35-year veteran of the agency was a top candidate to head the CIA's operational wing – only to be disappointed when he was not given the role. Within the building, the episode left the impression that the candidate, Ralph Goff, who has been outspoken in support of Ukraine, was insufficiently supportive of the president and his views on the conflict there. The episode is an example that 'the whole building is on tenterhooks because they don't have any idea what is going to happen next,' said the former high-ranking intelligence official. Ratcliffe is still expected to make widespread cuts at the CIA that officials said appear tailored to elevate the role of covert operations and human intelligence gathering. Ratcliffe, Ellis and other top officials are also holding meetings on a proposed reorganization of the agency that would combine existing offices under a new 'Americas' Mission Center to prioritize counternarcotics and counter-cartel work – previously a relatively small part of the agency's mission but a top priority under Trump. The CIA under Trump has been flying unarmed surveillance drone missions over Mexican airspace and reviewing its legal authorities to conduct lethal action against cartels – a frequent topic of conversation at the White House, according to a source familiar with the matter. Ratcliffe has made clear that one of his top priorities as CIA director is refocusing the agency on covert action and collecting human intelligence. 'We will collect intelligence – especially human intelligence – in every corner of the globe, no matter how dark or difficult. We will produce insightful, objective, all-source analysis, never allowing political or personal biases to cloud our judgement or infect our products,' Ratcliffe told Senate lawmakers during his confirmation hearing earlier this year. 'We will conduct covert action at the direction of the president, going places no one else can go and doing things no one else can do,' he said. Ratcliffe's plans also include shrinking the agency's workforce by about 1,200 personnel over the next several years through a combination of early retirement, deferred resignations, and reduced hiring, according to a source familiar with the matter. In total, the planned cuts will affect between 5-6% of the CIA's total workforce, the source added. But the changes are unlikely to impact hiring at CIA's Directorate of Operations, according to the source familiar with the matter. Instead, the effort appears likely to include cutting some positions currently held by analysts at the agency, suggesting a clear prioritization of officials who operate in the field over those who work to make sense of multiple streams of intelligence, according to current and former US officials. That goal aligns with the vision outlined for the CIA in a Trump transition planning document obtained by CNN, which details how the new administration should limit analysts' ability to influence decisions related to covert operations and reassert control over those programs to ensure they are aligned with the president's policy goals. The agency is reevaluating what were known as the 'Brennan reforms' – named for former CIA Director John Brennan – which integrated analysts with the agency's operations officers. Critics of the move have long argued that having the two roles work together compromised hard-nosed analysis. Some covert officers have also long contended that the move weakened the agency's elite spies, elevating analysts at their expense. Under Trump, those voices appear to have gained an audience. CNN's Alayna Treene contributed to this report.
