Alleged Russian honeytrap spy tells court she was ‘lied to, manipulated, used’
Vanya Gaberova, 30, is accused of being part of a spy ring which targeted people and places of interest to the Russian state over three years.
An alleged Russian spy has tearfully told jurors she knew nothing of plans to deploy her as a “honeytrap”, saying she was “lied to, manipulated, used, and exposed”.
Vanya Gaberova, 30, is accused of being part of a spy ring which targeted people and places of interest to the Russian state over three years.
It is alleged she befriended Christo Grozev on Facebook to get close to the journalist who uncovered Russian involvement in the 2018 Salisbury Novichok poisoning.
In August 2021, Gaberova had accompanied her Russian spy lover Biser Dzhambazov, 43, to Vienna in Austria and holed up in a rented apartment near to Mr Grozev’s home for surveillance, the court heard.
They allegedly followed him to Valencia in Spain, where Mr Grozev attended a Bellingcat conference and Dzhambazov’s partner Katrin Ivanova even travelled on the same plane.
Gaberova, described in messages as a “killer sexy brunette”, was sitting just metres from Mr Grozev as he had breakfast with fellow Bellingcat journalist Eliot Higgins.
Under cross-examination on Thursday, Gaberova insisted she knew nothing of the carefully planned operation against Mr Grozev, telling jurors: “Seeing all of this now, I was lied to, manipulated, used, exposed.”
By September 2021, spy chief Orlin Roussev and alleged Russian agent Jan Marsalek were planning to engineer a “romance” between Gaberova and Mr Grozev, jurors heard.
As part of the honeytrap, Roussev suggested making a recording for Pornhub, saying Gaberova was “red hot” and a “swinger too”.
Gaberova became emotional as she denied knowing anything about it, telling jurors: “These people had horrible plans for me.”
In an earlier message, Roussev told Mr Marsalek: “I put into action one of the brunettes.
“She has a beauty salon in London and very good, wide network of people on Facebook and Instagram.
“She sent invite to Grozev on Facebook and he was very quick to accept friendship.”
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC asked what she understood she was doing when she originally befriended Mr Grozev on Facebook.
Gaberova repeatedly denied knowing Roussev, despite having a contact under his Telegram handle “Jackie Chan” saved on her phone.
She was asked why she made a screenshot of a post on Facebook in which Mr Grozev’s new profile picture was described by an “attractive brunette” as beautiful in Russian.
Ms Morgan suggested this was the kind of woman Mr Grozev might be interested in and bore a “very similar resemblance” to the defendant.
Gaberova, who declined to hand over her Facebook password, told jurors: “Mr Grozev never liked my picture, I never messaged him, I never talked to him.”
She told jurors Dzhambazov had claimed to be working for Interpol and had told her Mr Grozev was a “bad journalist”.
Dzhambazov, from Harrow, north-west London, and Roussev, 46, from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, have admitted plotting to spy for Russia between 2020 and 2023.
Fellow Bulgarians Gaberova, her ex-boyfriend Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, of Acton, west London, and Ivanova, from Harrow, have denied involvement.
The court has heard how Gaberova, an award-winning “lashes queen”, was charmed by “ugly” Dzhambazov in Valencia and left her boyfriend Ivanchev, unaware the older man was still with his partner Ivanova.
Jurors viewed extracts of former competitive swimmer and painter-and-decorator Ivanchev’s police interviews, in which Ms Morgan suggested he had attempted to throw Gaberova “under a bus” to save himself.
He blamed Gaberova for getting him involved, accused her of “manipulating” him and claimed she was used as a “shield” by Dzhambazov, jurors heard.
Ms Morgan said Ivanchev’s account was “nonsense”, asking: “Do you know the expression ‘throwing someone under the bus’?
“He is trying to put you in it to save himself isn’t he? Give the police officers a bit of information here and there to make it seem like he is the reasonable one answering all the questions, meanwhile pretending that somehow or other he was manipulated into doing all this by you. And it’s not true is it?”
Gaberova replied: “Some of this was because Biser has told me that he is sick.”
Ms Morgan pressed: “Would you agree that Mr Ivanchev does not appear to have told police officers the truth about what was going on?”
The defendant replied: “I can’t say nothing about that. I cannot speak for him.”
The Old Bailey trial continues.
