Trial of three ‘minions’ in spy ring for Russia heard of chaotic errors, tangled relationships, a cancer lie and a red button

• Three UK-based Bulgarians found guilty of spying for Russia
• The spymaster, the ringleader and the ‘minions’: who’s who of the spy ring trial

It began with a simple request, though it was written by one of the world’s most wanted men. “We’d be interested in a Bulgarian guy working for Bellingcat: Christo Grozev,” the author wrote at 7.46pm on 14 December 2020. Another message followed on Telegram: “Can we look into this guy or would it raise too many questions?” And so a spy ring of Bulgarians based in Britain but working for Russia began to form.

The author was Jan Marsalek, a fugitive businessman accused of involvement in a €1.9bn fraud on the German payments company Wirecard – and an agent for Russia. Earlier that year he had fled to Moscow, and now he had time on his hands. The message’s recipient was Orlin Roussev, 47, an IT specialist and private investigator who had been based in the UK for several years – and somebody Marsalek appeared to know well.

Sky Shield proposal drawn up by military experts would be operated separately from Nato and deploy 120 fighter jets

A European air force of 120 fighter jets could be deployed to secure the skies from Russian attacks on Kyiv and western Ukraine without necessarily provoking a wider conflict with Moscow, according to a plan drawn up by military experts.

Sky Shield, its proponents argue, would be a European-led air protection zone operated separately from Nato to halt Russian cruise missile and drone attacks on cities and infrastructure, potentially operating as part of the “truce in the sky” proposed by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this week.