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Cvetelina Gencheva (left) and Tsvetanka Doncheva (right). Photo: Facebook
Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN) has uncovered a large-scale Russian disinformation campaign operating inside the country. According to the agency, the effort was designed “to manipulate public and political opinion to the detriment of Ukraine and to the advantage of Russia.”
The findings stem from an analysis of data storage devices seized during a December 2024 raid on the home of an alleged member of a suspected “sleeper cell” that became active just weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The DSN’s official statement did not reveal additional details, nor did it disclose the identities of those involved.
However, according to reporting by the BBC, the case involves Bulgarian nationals Cvetelina Gencheva and Tsvetanka Doncheva. The BBC notes that both women are linked to a Russian spy network run from the UK. Three other members of the cell pleaded guilty, admitting that they knew they were spying for Russia, while three others were recently convicted by a jury after a trial at London’s Old Bailey Criminal Court. Six other Bulgarians are awaiting sentencing in London for their roles in spying for Russia as part of the cell.
The network — as detailed in The Insider’s reporting — was overseen from Moscow by former Wirecard COO and FSB operative Jan Marsalek.
Gencheva, an employee at an airline in Sofia, provided Russian intelligence services with confidential flight data on surveillance targets, a list that included journalists and dissidents. She tracked the movements of lawyer Kirill Kachur and of The Insider’s editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov, assisting agents in boarding the same flights — often booking seats right next to their targets — in order to conduct in-person surveillance. Gencheva was also a member of private chat groups with the three Bulgarians convicted of espionage in the UK — Biser Dzhambazov, Katrin Ivanova, and cell leader Orlin Roussev. The group used the chats to coordinate espionage operations.
A source was able to confirm to the BBC that Gencheva was known to the Bulgarian security services as being connected to the network. She has not been charged with any offence.
Doncheva, who resides in Vienna, spied on The Insider’s investigative journalist Christo Grozev, Austrian investigative journalist Anna Thalhammer, and senior Austrian officials — including the head of Austria’s intelligence service, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner. She was also reportedly involved in propaganda campaigns aimed at discrediting Ukraine.
BBC reporters attempted to interview Doncheva in Vienna, but she denied being the person in question. Shortly afterward, she changed her name on Facebook and LinkedIn — though she continued to present herself as a specialist proficient with the Amadeus airline software, which she had used to monitor the movements of the group’s targets. Doncheva, like Gencheva, has not been charged with a crime and remains at liberty.