"Russian spy ring" investigation spreads from UK to Germany

German police are investigating whether a suspected Russian spy ring in Britain also examined military sites in central Europe, a report suggests.

It was disclosed last week that five people had been arrested after it was alleged that members of a group posed as journalists to inspect sites in the UK and Europe, The Times reports.

Three Bulgarian citizens — Orlin Roussev, 45, of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, and his girlfriend Katrin Ivanova, 31, both of Harrow, northwest London, — have been charged with possessing forged identity documents and committing other offences under the Official Secrets Act. Their trial is expected to begin at the Old Bailey early next year.

Two others living in London, a 31-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman of unknown nationality, were detained in February but have yet to be charged.

Reports have suggested the alleged spy ring was interested in targets in London, Germany and Montenegro, while trying to meddle in a Bulgarian election. Suspicions of overseas activities hardened after WDR, a west German public broadcaster, reported at the weekend that at least one of the five was believed to have visited Germany.

WDR said Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), acting on information from British security services, is leading an investigation into the possibility they spied on army sites.

The BKA and four other German national security organisations declined to comment. It remains unclear when the alleged trip took place or which locations were involved. It was alleged that the three Bulgarian suspects had 19 fake passports, identity cards and similar documents purporting to have been issued by nine states, including the UK, France, Italy and the Czech Republic.

The Times also revealed that Scotland Yard officers allegedly found forged press cards. There has been speculation the trio were linked to a flat in west London, about a mile from RAF Northolt, a military base used by the royal family and foreign heads of state.

Berlin starts to uncover Kremlin’s tentacles

Germany is a well-established target for Russian spies. In its most recent annual report its main domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, warned that espionage activities were at a similar level to the latter years of the Cold War.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine last year Moscow’s spy agencies were thought to have built up a network of several hundred officers and sources across Germany. These operations have been slashed over the past 18 months as about 70 Russians were expelled for suspected espionage. Yet the extent to which Russia has penetrated Germany is still being uncovered.

Two officers in the German foreign intelligence agency and the national defence procurement centre have been arrested on suspicion of passing information to the Russians.

David Ballantyne Smith, a security guard at the British embassy in Berlin, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in February for handing sensitive materials to a Russian diplomat. Last November “Ralph G”, a reserve officer in the German armed forces, was convicted of passing intelligence to an attaché at the Russian embassy.

Thomas Haldenwang, president of the BfV, said there was a heightened risk of Russian sabotage after rail traffic across much of northern Germany was briefly paralysed last year by an attack on two clusters of data cables.