A Bulgarian woman charged with being part of a Russian spy cell operating in the UK has denied knowing that information she gathered would be sent to Russia.
The Russian Spy Ring UK
Katrin Ivanova, 33, is accused of spying for Russia in a series of elaborate operations in the UK and Europe.
She allegedly targeted a US military base in Germany and secretly filmed two investigative journalists regarded as enemies of the Russian state.
Jurors have heard there was a risk the journalists could be kidnapped or assassinated.
Giving evidence for the first time, Ms Ivanova denied being a spy.
She accepted following people targeted by the operations and traveling around Europe, but said she did not know the true purpose of the activity.
She claimed that one operation targeting the investigative journalist Christo Grozev was itself a form of journalism and would reveal to the public that he was corrupt.
“The plan was to try and expose Mr. Grozev,” she said.
However, no information was ever published, and “nothing actually happened,” she stated.
She explained that her then-partner, Biser Dzhambazov, whom she trusted with her life, asked her to take part in surveillance operations.
“He has been my partner for over 10 years. Why would he do something that’s going to hurt me?” she said.
The operations were to help Dzhambazov’s friend Orlin Roussev, who assisted the couple financially after they first moved to the UK in 2012, Ms. Ivanova told the court.
The couple first met Roussev at East Croydon station in 2012 and went for dinner with him at a “posh” restaurant near the Thames, she said.
“I was very impressed with him,” she said. “He was someone I always wanted to be. He was a typical hero immigrant story.”
Both Dzhambazov and Roussev have already admitted conspiracy to spy for Russia.
Ms. Ivanova wiped away tears in the witness box as she described learning how her partner was arrested in bed with the other alleged female spy in this trial, Vanya Gaberova, 30.
Jurors have heard that Dzhambazov and Ms. Gaberova were in bed together when the police arrived to arrest them in February 2023.
She said Dzhambazov told her he had a brain tumor and went abroad for treatment. She now believes that was a lie so he could live a “parallel life” with Ms. Gaberova.
