Three Bulgarian nationals based in Britain were convicted on Friday by a London jury of spying for Russia on what police said was 'an industrial scale.' The three, Konstantin V. V., Venisy G., and Tihomir Iv. M., were convicted at London's Central Criminal Court after a trial began in November. Jurors deliberated for more than 32 hours before finding them guilty of scheming to spy for a foreign state. They face up to 14 years in prison. The suspects conducted out-operation trips in the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany, and Montenegro between 2019 and 2022. They traveled with fake identities on U.S., British, or Germany airlines. They believed that a far-right leader was critical and had discussed kidnapping or killing opponents of the Russian state. The group also staged a protest in London by posing as a fake delegation from Kazakhstan. Prosecutor Jan Marcek, an Austrian national wanted by Interpol, directed the case. The suspects had sophisticated spyware found in a raid on the accused's operations center in a former guesthouse near London's English seaside town of Great Yarmouth. The spyware included nerve agent detection devices, microphones hidden inside everyday objects including a rock and a costume bear, and a MiniDisc audio toy. They manipulated social media videos, including those targeting British politicians Sir Keir Starmer and John McDonnell, interpolating violent hate speech and violent imagery in videos. Two of the suspects, Stanislav and Deyan, claimed in court that they were working under orders to sabotage and spread disinformation. The espionage is linked to Russian efforts to destabilize western democracies.

Three Bulgarian nationals based in Britain were convicted on Friday by a London jury of spying for Russia on what police said was 'an industrial scale.' The three, Konstantin V. V., Venisy G., and Tihomir Iv. M., were convicted at London's Central Criminal Court after a trial began in November. Jurors deliberated for more than 32 hours before finding them guilty of scheming to spy for a foreign state. They face up to 14 years in prison. The suspects conducted out-operation trips in the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany, and Montenegro between 2019 and 2022. They traveled with fake identities on U.S., British, or Germany airlines. They believed that a far-right leader was critical and had discussed kidnapping or killing opponents of the Russian state. The group also staged a protest in London by posing as a fake delegation from Kazakhstan. Prosecutor Jan Marcek, an Austrian national wanted by Interpol, directed the case. The suspects had sophisticated spyware found in a raid on the accused's operations center in a former guesthouse near London's English seaside town of Great Yarmouth. The spyware included nerve agent detection devices, microphones hidden inside everyday objects including a rock and a costume bear, and a MiniDisc audio toy. They manipulated social media videos, including those targeting British politicians Sir Keir Starmer and John McDonnell, interpolating violent hate speech and violent imagery in videos. Two of the suspects, Stanislav and Deyan, claimed in court that they were working under orders to sabotage and spread disinformation. The espionage is linked to Russian efforts to destabilize western democracies.