At 1.30 p.m. on 7 September 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident and BBC journalist, approached a bus stop at the south end of Waterloo bridge. As he gazed absent-mindedly across the Thames, office workers jostled him as they streamed past. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain on the back of his right thigh. Turning quickly, he saw a man stoop to pick up an umbrella. ‘I am sorry’, the man mumbled in a gruff foreign accent. Seconds later, a taxi pulled up, the man jumped inside and disappeared.

The pain was excruciating, and Markov was taken to St James’ hospital, Balham. As he lay in bed, the Soviet bloc defector mentioned the incident, but the doctors did not suspect foul play and thought he had a high fever. Four days later Markov died. At first the autopsy did not reveal anything sinister. But then a fragment of tissue at the puncture mark was sent to a special laboratory at Porton Down, Wiltshire, where they discovered he had been poisoned by ricin, a lethal derivative of the castor oil plant.

As a journalist at the BBC World Service, Markov had been a vociferous and active critic of communist Bulgaria, then a satellite regime of the Soviet Union. In response he was branded an enemy of the state. His fellow dissidents suspected he had been assassinated. But it was not until 1994 that former KGB General Oleg Kalugin revealed that not only did the Kremlin order Bulgarian spies to murder the troublesome dissident, but they also supplied the poison that was injected into his leg. According to Kalugin:

In early 1978, Vladimir Kryuchkov, our intelligence chief, received an urgent cable from General Stoyanov, the Bulgarian Minister of the Interior. The Bulgarian had a blunt request: he wanted the KGB’s help in carrying out President Zhivkov’s express order to liquidate Markov……Over the next half a year, using the talents of KGB scientists schooled in the art of poisoning and other methods of murder, we stumbled toward the assassination of Markov. It was a wrenching trial-and-error process, right out of the pages of the blackest comedy, but in the end, we got our man.

The assassin has never been identified but declassified documents of the Bulgarian secret service revealed the operation was authorised from the Kremlin.

Today, 45 years later Bulgarian spies may be back on the streets of London at the behest of Moscow. Last year, five Bulgarian nationals were charged under the Official Secrets Act and accused of allegedly carrying out secret surveillance on people in the UK on behalf of Russia. It is alleged that, between August 2020 and February 2023, these individuals were part of a network plotting to gather intelligence useful to an enemy and ‘for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interest of the (UK) state.’

The allegations are a timely reminder that Russia remains a security threat inside the UK, especially in the run-up to the forthcoming general election. Russian spies have targeted MPs, peers, civil servants and NGOs with cyber-hacking since 2015 as part of an ongoing operation to destabilise the UK and interfere in British politics, according to a recent Foreign Office statement. FSB units involved in cyber-espionage have focused on MPs from all parties and ‘selectively leaked and amplified the release of sensitive information in service of Russia’s goals of confrontation’, said Foreign Office Minister Leo Docherty. ‘The hackers engaged in thorough research and impersonated contacts that appear legitimate and create a believable approach seeking to build a rapport before delivering a malicious link.’

The prosecution’s case is that the Bulgarian defendants, who have settled EU status, have been active in Europe but coordination of their alleged operations took place in the UK. The defendants lived quietly in Harrow, and in the west London suburbs of Greenford and Acton. Their professions are varied and, if they are cover stories, ingenious. One, Ivan Stoyanov, 31 – nicknamed ‘The Destroyer’ – is a professional mixed martial arts fighter. Another, Vanya Gaberova, 29, is a beautician who specialises in eye lashes and runs a salon called ‘Pretty Woman’. And a third, Orlin Roussev, 45, previously owned a signals intelligence company selling communications equipment and worked in financial services. Between 2008 and 2009 he reportedly was a strategic advisor to the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy. The operating hub of their alleged covert surveillance was a house in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, according to prosecutors.

All five alleged spies are in jail awaiting a trial which will take place later this year. The charges include activities in the UK with the purpose of assisting Russia in conducting hostile actions against targets.

Whether they are guilty or not, this case highlights the insidious influence of the Kremlin in Bulgaria, which has important implications for the war in Ukraine. For Christo Grozev, the formidable Bulgarian investigative journalist who specialises on Russia, ‘Moscow views Bulgaria as easy prey’. Last year he identified a large concentration of agents in his homeland. Since 2019 Russia has escalated its espionage operations in Bulgaria which culminated in the arrest of five defence ministry officials for obtaining classified information on Nato, the EU’s Russia policy and intelligence operations. And Russian diplomats have been expelled for spying on Bulgarian military plans, notably the decision to commission US F-16 fighter jets.

In April 2016, Russia may have even thought about attempting to overthrow the government in Sofia. According to Grozev’s account, Russian military intelligence agents planned the coup by recruiting Bulgarian paramilitary groups to carry out the mission. The Kremlin benefits from such mercenary units.

For Putin, Bulgaria is a potential ally not just in the Ukraine war but as a strategic satellite state. Like Russia, Bulgaria has descended into a mafia state and is vulnerable to Moscow’s influence with its weak media literacy, high poverty levels, culture of corruption, energy dependence and deep linguistic ties.

At first Bulgaria opposed the invasion of Ukraine. But that all changed when Rumen Radev became President. His supporters hold anti-West protests adorned with masses of Russian flags. Last July Radev was criticised after he said ‘Ukraine insists on fighting this war… But it should also be clear that the bill is paid by the whole of Europe’ and supplying arms to Kiev ‘only prolongs the conflict’. And most significantly, as of February 2023, the Bulgarian government had failed to impose sanctions against any Russian citizens and companies on the EU sanctions list since the invasion of Crimea in 2014.

Today the Bulgarian government supports Putin’s regime, his war and resembles a satellite state reminiscent of the communist era. Back in 1978 the Bulgarian security service covertly conspired with the KGB to murder a dissident who criticised its brutal repressive regime. Now once again it appears that Russia and Bulgaria are in a secret alliance to disrupt, destabilise and disorientate, potentially on our doorstep in the lead up to the election. The Cold War is back.