The British police have charged a sixth Bulgarian national in connection with an alleged espionage operation linked to Russia.
The 37-year-old Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, residing in West London, was arrested on February 7 as part of an investigation led by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Ivanchev was detained, pending his appearance at Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London.
He faces charges of conspiring to collect information deemed directly or indirectly beneficial to an enemy, compromising the security and interests of the state.
This charge is part of a broader investigation that has already seen five other Bulgarians charged, with their trial scheduled to commence in October.
The case alleges a conspiracy involving the collection, documentation, publication, and transmission of documents or information to Moscow, alongside Jean Marsalek and unidentified others.
Jean Marsalek, the former COO of the Austrian payment company Wirecard, is sought by German authorities on allegations of fraud, further intertwining the complex web of this espionage case.