Five Bulgarians accused of being part of a Russian spy network in the UK pleaded not guilty to the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) in London.

Orlin Roussev, Biser Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova, Ivan Stoyanov and Vanya Gaberova are accused of conspiracy and espionage in the period August 2020 to February 2023." They also denied the accusations that they possessed 18 false documents, including Bulgarian, British, French, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Italian and Slovenian passports, as well as a Spanish ID card and a Czech driver's license.

The sixth Bulgarian, Tihomir Ivanchev, arrested a month ago, did not plead in the case. The next court session is on May 16. The head of the group, Jan Marsalek, is wanted by German police over embezzlement and is believed to be hiding in Russia.