Six Bulgarians who were found guilty of spying on an industrial scale are due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey.
A spymaster at the heart of a UK-based Russian espionage network boasted that he could supply “nukes”, messages show.
Jan Marsalek, a 44-year-old Austrian businessman, told ringleader Orlin Roussev in April 2021 “together we can pretty much organise anything they need except nukes” before adding “even the nukes if they pay”.
The messages were collected by the prosecution in the case of six Bulgarian nationals who are due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey for their part in the spy network.
Female “honeytrap” agents Katrin Ivanova, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30, and competitive swimmer Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March of spying on an “industrial scale”, putting lives and national security at risk.
They are due to face sentencing at the same court, alongside Roussev, 47, his second-in-command Biser Dzhambazov, 44, and Ivan Stoyanov, 33, who admitted their roles.
Mr 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.
Other messages collated by the prosecution show how Mr Marsalek believed a “successful operation on British ground would be amazing” following the Skripal poisonings in Salisbury.
Another from November 2022 showed him criticising former Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich for “leaving Russia and selling all his assets here”.
Mr Marsalek, who is wanted by Interpol after the collapse of German payment processing firm Wirecard, also told Roussev in May 2021: “In my new role as an international fugitive I must outperform James Bond.”
The Austrian businessman also appeared to suggest setting up a pornography website “dedicated to only Russians” which he said should include having sex with Ukrainians and “British war-protesters”.
On the second day of the four-day sentencing hearing, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC also read victim impact statements from Bellingcat investigative journalist Christo Grozev and Kazakhstan dissident Bergey Ryskaliyev.
Ms Morgan said Mr Grozev had described the surveillance on him as “terrifying, disorientating and deeply destabilising”, and that Mr Ryskaliyev had been forced to hire private security.
Ms Morgan first read Mr Grozev’s statement to the court on Thursday: “Their surveillance and targeting have had a profound and enduring impact on both my personal and professional life, as well as the lives of my family members.
“Learning only in retrospect that foreign agents have been monitoring my movements, communications and home, surveying my loved ones over an extended period – has been terrifying, disorientating and deeply destabilising.
“The consequences have not faded with time – they have fundamentally changed how I live my daily life and how I relate to the world around me.”
Mr Grozev was targeted after he exposed Russian links to the Novichok poisoning and the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane in July 2014.
He was followed from Vienna to a conference in Valencia in Spain, with Ivanova able to get close enough on the plane to record the PIN number on his phone with a camera on the strap of her bag after the spies acquired his flight manifest.
Ms Morgan said Mr Grozev has had to “change day-to-day routines” because he “may still be at risk from others operating in the UK and elsewhere”.
The prosecutor went on to say Mr Ryskaliyev felt “concerned that the threat has not been fully eliminated” despite the defendants being arrested.
Mr Ryskaliyev was under surveillance from the spy ring at two west London addresses: One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge; and Warwick Chambers; the court previously heard.
The court was also told that targeting Mr Ryskaliyev in November 2021 would have helped Kazakhstan and served to cultivate relations with Russia.
Speaking about his family, Mr Ryskaliyev said: “Despite the fear, we do not allow it to paralyse us.
“As a result of the threat, I’ve had to put enhanced security measures in place: these include hiring private security and changing the logistics of my movements.”
He said, despite the significant cost of having security, Mr Ryskaliyev said: “It is a necessary investment in our safety.”
Mr Ryskaliyev concluded: “We will not be intimidated. We will fight. We will expose. We will protect those who have chosen freedom and justice.”
The network engaged in a series of surveillance and intelligence operations over three years in which spies were referred to as Minions – characters from the animated film Despicable Me.
Roussev deployed the Minions with second-in-command Dzhambazov, who was in a love triangle with two of the team: his partner Ivanova and beautician Gaberova, jurors heard.
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.
