The involvement of a female agent in a Russian espionage ring is a “world away from the classic spy case” such as George Blake, her barrister has said.
Katrin Ivanova, 33, is due to be sentenced for her part in the UK-based spy network, alongside fellow Bulgarian nationals Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, who were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March.
Orlin Roussev, 47, his second-in-command Biser Dzhambazov, 44, and Ivan Stoyanov, 33, also face sentence after putting lives and national security at risk.
Ivanova’s barrister Rupert Bowers KC told the court on Friday that she had been “lied to and manipulated by her partner” Dzhambazov, who was found naked in bed with his lover Gaberova when they were arrested.
Mr Bowers said unlike double agent Blake, who was sentenced to 42 years in prison in the 1960s for spying for the Soviet Union, Ivanova was in “no position of trust”, there were “no state secrets at play” and she had no intention to “prejudice the interests of the UK”.
Providing mitigation for her on Friday, Mr Bowers said: “She has never said she was coerced … and had no choice but so to act.
“That is to her credit, but that is not to say that she was not lied to and manipulated by her partner, because she plainly was.”
He continued: “We submit that there is a difference in overall seriousness between a defendant in a position of trust, usually in the military who a) steals state secrets … b) hands them to a foreign state which he knows is hostile, and c) intending when he does so that the interests of the UK will be prejudiced thereafter.
“The intention she had is a world away from that. It’s a world away from the classic spy case.
“Ms Ivanova was in no position of trust as Blake was, there are no state secrets at play, there is no intention to prejudice the interests of the UK as Blake did, or any knowledge or belief that Russia was a hostile country.”
The spy network was directed by alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek, an Austrian businessman wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard.
Marsalek acted as a go-between for Russian intelligence and Roussev, who led the operation from a former guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
It is believed to be one of the “largest and most complex” enemy operations to be uncovered on UK soil.
The network engaged in a series of surveillance and intelligence operations over three years in which spies were referred to as Minions – characters from animated film Despicable Me.
They targeted people and places of interest to the Russian state, and discussed using “lashes queen” Gaberova as a honeytrap to snare a high-profile journalist, dropped 100 litres of pigs’ blood on the Kazakhstan embassy in London by drone, and kidnapped a man on UK soil.
Spyware was recovered from the seaside hotel, described by Roussev in messages as his “Indiana Jones garage” – including audiovisual spy devices hidden inside a rock, men’s ties, a Coke bottle and a Minions cuddly toy.
The defendants, who are in custody, face sentences of up to 14 years in jail for the activities in the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro.
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