A group of Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia targeted an investigative reporter for the Bellingcat news outlet, trying to lure him into a “sex-bait trap” via Facebook, prosecutors told a London court today. .

Catherine Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tikhomir Ivanchev, 39, are accused of being part of a highly sophisticated spy ring run by a Russian agent named Yann Marsalek that targeted people, including dissidents .

Prosecutors say the trio in question – along with two men, Orlin Rousseff and Bizer Zabazov, who have admitted to participating in an espionage plot – were also monitoring a US military base in Germany where Ukrainian forces were being trained.

Prosecutors allege the three were acting under the direction of Rousseff, who in turn was being directed by Marsalek, an Austrian national who used the alias Rupert Tietz.

Marsalek was the former CEO of the collapsed payments company Wirecard and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Ivanova, Gaberova and Ivanchev deny the charges.

Their trial at London’s Old Bailey continued today with prosecutor Alison Morgan saying the group had been tracking in 2021 Hristo Grozef, a Bulgarian national who works for Bellingcat.

Grozhev was the lead investigator on Bellingcat’s investigation into the 2018 poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England.

Morgan said Gaberova friend-requested Groszeff on Facebook as part of an intelligence-gathering effort led by Marsalek and Rousseff.

“Grozhev seems to be stuck and in love with Vanya,” Rousseff had told Marsalek in a message shortly after accepting Grozhev’s Facebook friend request.

Marsalek expressed concern that Gaberova might “fall in love” with him, but Rousseff responded: “Vanya is very, very assertive and fiercely independent. Really sexy bitch.”

The prosecutor also said Ivanova, Gaberova and Dzhabazov followed Grosev to a hotel in the Spanish city of Valencia, with Gaberova taking pictures of him with Bellingcat founder Elliot Higgins.

Ivanova videotaped Grozef on a flight from Austria to Montenegro using a pair of “video surveillance glasses,” Morgan added.

Morgan also told jurors that Ivanova had “played a central role” in 2021-22 in tracking Roman Domprohotov, a Russian living in Britain who is editor-in-chief of The Insider, an independent media outlet.

Morgan said Marsalek and Rousseff had discussed a “plan for the possible kidnapping of Mr. Dobrokhondov’, possibly in Britain, before they decided that such a plan would be too dangerous.

Marsalek had said in a message to Rousseff: “A successful operation on British soil would be amazing” after the failed attempt to assassinate Skripal.

Morgan said at the trial’s opening last week that the team had been paid to conduct its surveillance and compile detailed reports.

Ivanova, Gaberova and Ivanchev deny the charge of conspiring to collect information useful to the enemy between August 2020 and February 2023. Ivanova also denies having false identity documents. Their trial is expected to last until February.