The leader of the Bulgarian spy ring helped Vokard escapee Jan Marsalek organize 200 people from Kabul and 200 people from Kabul during his military retreat from Afghanistan in 2021, a court in London heard.

The claim was filed on Thursday by a lawyer representing Orlin Roussev, the British-based Kingpin, accused of spying on a “industrial scale” for Russia.

Lawyers argue that Roussev, a Bulgarian Pilots pilot, deserves the honor of saving American lives. He appeared at the sentencing hearing with colleague Biser Dzhambazov and third man Ivan Stoyanov. Everyone pleaded guilty and espionage for Russia.

The remaining members of the spy ring - Katrin Ivanova, Vanya Gaberova and Tihomir Ivanchev were also present, convicted in March after a three-month trial at Old Bailey.

All six will be sentenced Monday.

Marsalek fled Germany in Russia as he tried his hand at the Afghanistan operation as chief operating officer as he was the 1.9 billion euro fraud the previous year.

After exile, he was believed to have espionage for the FSB and GRU, Russia's domestic intelligence and military intelligence agencies, and was tasked by Moscow on behalf of Roussev and his Bulgarian team.

Marsalek and Roussev collaborated on many projects requested by Moscow to monitor Russian targets, including journalists and dissidents.

However, Roussev's barrister Mark Summers KC quoted a telegram message that indicated that the couple also underwent humanitarian missions in August 2021 at the request of the CIA.

Marsalek wrote to Roussev on August 17: "We have an interesting request from the CIA (we (CIA). They desperately need planes to fly out of contractors from Afghanistan. Apparently, all the crafty airlines in Russia and Turkey have been "sold out" or have refused to fly because insurance doesn't know anyone's losses. Do you want to.

Summers said Roussev successfully arranged for more than 200 Bulgarian pilots to take off from Kabul on August 26.

At that time, NATO allies were on the emergency evacuation of Taliban troops after the U.S. military withdrawal, with the evacuation of more than 120,000 soldiers and civilians.

But, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said the idea that Roussev was acting on a humanitarian basis as directed by the U.S. government is "totally incorrect." Instead, the arrangement was made with stars without any instructions from the broader Western allies.

"What Mr. Rousseff did was to see if they could profit from the horrible situation that happened in Kabul ... to see if they could make money from it," she said. "There was no evidence that air freight had happened.

The telegram message did not explain the connection between Marsalek and Constellis. The company did not respond to a request for comment. The CIA has been contacted for comment.

According to news published in the court, Marsalek and Roussev also used their connections to conduct business businesses and discussed the diamond and arms trade in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In a conversation in June 2021, Rousseff told Marsalek that he was “dealing with the diamond guys in Africa”.

"I have been providing them with close contact for four years," Rousseff wrote.

Marsalek is also eager to work with Chinese contacts to design rivals for billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink Communications satellites, and said he wants to build a partnership between Russian state weapons company Rostec and Chinese drone maker Autel to help Muscow’s Moscow troops in Ukraine.

In February 2023, a message cache of the telegram was found on the British police's equipment when British police raided the Bulgarians' residence.

Their interaction reveals Marsalek's life in exile. In a May 2021 message, he said he was taking a course in Russia.

"I'm trying to improve my skills in some ways, and language is one of them. In my new role as an international fugitive, I have to beat James Bond," he wrote.

In another February 2022 news, he told Roussev that he would go to bed early after a new plastic surgery to change his appearance. "I had another cosmetic surgery and tried to look different, I died and had a headache," Masalec complained.