‘Spy who loved me’ was caught naked in bed with another woman

An accused Russian agent has told a court she allowed the head of a spy ring to leave his computers at her home but she had no idea what they were being used for.

Lab assistant Katrin Ivanova, 33, said Orlin Roussev, filled her garage with equipment and and paid part of the rent on the house in return.

She said she came to the UK with her co-accused, boyfriend Biser Dzhambazov, 43, in April 2012.

They met Roussev, 46, that summer and the couple later rented the four bedroom house in Harrow.

Today (fri), Ivanova took the stand wearing a black suit and white shirt and told jurors she ‘looked up’ to Roussev.

Dzhambazov

She said: ‘He was helping with the deposit, we were covering the rent and he was covering some of the rent.

‘Orlin Roussev was always having his computers in our property.’

In their first flat he left computers in their living room, then when they moved to a house In Harrow, their garage was ‘full of his equipment,’ she said.

Her barrister Rupert Bowers KC asked: ‘You’re saying computers, was there other stuff as well?’

‘Anything relating to computers.’ Ivanova replied.

‘Did you go through any of his stuff?’ asked Mr Bowers.

‘No I’m not interested in it.’ said Ivanova.

‘What’s the reason that he’s leaving this stuff with you?’

‘I knew at the time that he was living in a small apartment in central London,’ Ivanova explained.

Ivanova said she did not want the equipment in the house, and was trying to speak to Dzhambazov about it.

The couple met Roussev when they first arrived in the UK, and he become ‘close friends’ with Dzhambazocv.

Ms Ivanova told the court: ‘I was very impressed with him, he was someone who I always wanted to be – he was the hero in the story.

‘He went out from Bulgaria, he studied in at university in Australia and became a very successful person.

‘He was someone I was looking up to. I was very impressed.’

Roussev would often visit them at home, and sometimes the couple would go out to dinner with him.

‘Did you trust him?’ Mr Bowers asked.

‘Yes,’ Ivanova replied.

Ivanova met Dzhambazov when she was 17 and he was 27 their relationship progressed ‘quickly’ and he moved into her family home, she was still at school.

‘My father was trying to control me, so I chose to go to university as far as possible,’ said Ivanova.

Ivanova, along with beautician Vanya Gaberova, 30, and her ex-boyfriend, decorator Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, all deny working for Russian intelligence services between August 2020 and February 2023.

Roussev and Dzhambazov, who was arrested in bed with Gaberova, have accepted they were involved in spying.

They were working under the instruction of Russian agent Jan Marsalek.

Ivanova, of Harrow, Ivanchev, of Erith, and Gaberova, of Camden, northwest London, deny conspiring to gather information that would be useful to an enemy between 30 August 2020 and 8 February 2023.

Ivanova also denies possession of false identity documents.

Gaberova

Ivanova said she bought the bed and decorated the room where her partner was arrested naked with another woman, a court heard.

Ivanova thought that she and Dzhambazov were going to move into the Wellesley Road flat Gaberova was living in at the time of the arrests on 8 February.

She tearfully claimed to have ‘never spoken’ with Gaberova, and did not know where Dzhambazov had been arrested, until her lawyer read her a statement by police.

Ivanova said: ‘There was a colleague of mine who was moving out from that address.

‘And he wanted to rent that property, and the rent was the same amount as we were paying,

‘The same flat where Gaberova and Biser were arrested was the same flat where we were going to be living.’

The couple were planning to move, Ivanova had even decorated the property, before it broke down, they needed to get rid of clutter before they could make the move, jurors heard.

‘I decorated the property, I cleaned the property, I went to buy a bed for that property.’ said Ivanova.

The Wellesley Road flat was ‘perfect’ for the couple and would have meant the couple could have come home from work to have lunch at home, a court heard.

Ivanova also insisted that she did not know any of the information she gathered was destined for Russia, and if she had known, she would not have supported it.

‘I left my country for that reason, because of the corruption,’ she explained.

Ivanova said Dzhambazov told her he had a brain tumour to hide his relationship with Gaberova.

She believed that he had travelled to Bulgaria to receive treatment, when in fact he was on a mission with the beautician Gaberova.

He was leading a double life, maintaining his ten year relationship with Ivanova and an 18-month fling with Gaberova.
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While he was in Bulgaria Ivanova was sending him messages like: ‘You do know you can count on me 100 per cent don’t you, I also want to be part of whatever the doctor told you.

‘I love you and I’m waiting for you,’

She told jurors that she now appreciates that he was lying to her and that the tumour treatment was an excuse.

‘On 22 October 2021, I understand that my partner is going to Bulgaria to find out what is wrong with him, the following days I’m trying to have conversation with him to see what is wrong.

‘But as we see, in October, Mr Dzhambazov was in Bulgaria, yes but he was with Ms Gaberova.

‘A relationship with me and a relationship with another woman – a parallel relationship that was going on for over 18 months.’

Ivanova said she would have done anything for Dzhambazov ‘without question’ and did not need to know why they were conducting the surveillance activity for him.

She told jurors: ‘If Biser asks me to do something I’ll gladly do it without really questioning what the motive is behind.

‘What I’m saying is if Biser was going to ask me to do something, without question.’

‘Why,’ Mr Bowers asked.

‘Because he’s my partner for all things, I arrived in this country without anyone else,’ Ivanova replied.

Ivanova, of Harrow, Ivanchev, of Erith, and Gaberova, of Camden, northwest London, deny conspiring to gather information that would be useful to an enemy between 30 August 2020 and 8 February 2023.

Ivanova also denies possession of false identity documents.

The trial continues.