Six were handed sentences ranging from just over five to nearly 12 years in jail for their roles in a Russian spy ring that prosecutors say was conducting “nearly industrial-scale” surveillance on the ‘s behalf.
Judge Nicholas Hilliard handed down the sentences in London on Monday.
Judge Hilliard sentenced ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, to 10 years and eight months in prison, telling him that the operations he had directed posed a serious risk to national security.
Spies operated across borders
Roussev pleaded guilty before trial to one count of conspiracy to spy for Russia after police found thousands of .
Marsalek, the court was told, acted as a go-between for Russian intelligence and Roussev, who led the operation from a former guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
The Russian embassy in London has not commented on the case, though the Kremlin rejects all spying allegations.
The six were convicted for carrying out surveillance on journalists, dissidents and Ukrainian soldiers being trained at a US military base in Germany.
Plot to sweep up mobile phone data of Ukrainian soldiers
During the German operation, the spies had planned to intercept mobile phone signals at Patch Barracks, a US base near Stuttgart, where Ukrainian troops were believed to be undergoing Patriot missile training.
Hilliard noted the defendants were “motivated by money” and lived “very comfortably” on the substantial sums they were paid.Though they did not work directly for Russia’s intelligence agencies, he said, they had confessed to finding “exciting and glamorous.”
Edited by: Louis Oelofse
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