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A second espionage network, after the Bulgarian one, commanded by the Kremlin is being sought in the United Kingdom.
The spy networks are tasked with monitoring Russian dissidents who have fled Russia. Journalist Roman Dobrokhotov has also been targeted by the spy networks, who claimed to have been informed of new attempts to spy on his family.
Russian investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov fled Russia in 2021 and has feared for his life ever since.
Details of the warning given to Dobrokhotov, who left Moscow in 2021, are being withheld at his request, while his family, his wife and two minor children, have also been accommodated in an undisclosed location.
Six Bulgarian citizens with resident status in the UK – Vanya Gaberova, 30, Katrin Ivanova, 33, Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, Orlin Roussev, 47, Biser Dzhambazov, 43 and Ivan Stoyanov, 34, were convicted of carrying out espionage operations at home and abroad.
Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian national believed to be working as a Russian agent, organised the operation from Moscow, despite being wanted for his links to an alleged £1.6bn fraud at German financial firm Wirecard.
Two of their targets were journalists Christo Grozev and Dobrokhotov, who were responsible for exposing two Russian military intelligence officers who tried to kill Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury in 2018.
Messages uncovered by police show that Dobrokhotov was so closely monitored that his iPhone pin number was captured by one of the spies sitting next to him on a plane.
There had also been discussions within the group about poisoning Dobrokhotov with ricin on the streets of London or kidnapping him using a small boat.
Dobrokhotov is the editor-in-chief of the website Insider, whose investigative work has led to around 80 companies and 60 people being hit with economic sanctions by the West for their role in facilitating Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
Dobrokhotov said that “I understood that after the arrest of the Bulgarians there should still be a constant attention to me and Kristos, because we did not stop our work. Also, because our source told us that, after this team controlled by the FSB [Russian security service] was arrested, the same task has now been given to the GRU [military intelligence]. We expected that there would be something continuous. So, after the police said that they know about some new attempts, this was not too surprising, just confirmation of what our Russian source was telling us.”
Dobrokhotov said he had to constantly move to avoid the Kremlin's attention.
A spokesman for the counter-terrorism police said: "Counter-terrorism police work closely with police forces, partners and communities to identify any repressive activity from foreign states in the UK and will seek to disrupt this activity where possible." /Adapted from The Guardian/
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