Six Bulgarian nationals found guilty of spying for Russia by London's Central Criminal Court in March will be sentenced by the same court this afternoon, reports BNR correspondent Veselin Paunov. The final verdict is expected by Friday at the latest.

• Bulgaria cannot intervene in espionage case against Bulgarians in the UK, says PM Zhelyazkov

After a four-month trial, Vanya Gaberova, Katrin Ivanova and Tihomir Ivanchev, who pleaded not guilty, were found guilty of carrying out operations for Russian military intelligence. The leader of the group, Orlin Rusev, Biser Dzhambazov and Ivan Stoyanov pleaded guilty at the start of the trial. Based on a huge amount of evidence, the court found that between 2020 and 2023 the six had carried out espionage on an "industrial scale", including operations in the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro.

The main targets of the operations were Russian dissidents and journalists, including Bulgarian investigative journalist Hristo Grozev. The orders are believed to have come from Austrian national and Russian intelligence agent Jan Marsalek, who is believed to be hiding in Moscow.