The leader of the Russophile movement in Bulgaria, Nikolai Malinov, who was sanctioned by the United States through the global Magnitsky Act, said that he has a meeting in Moscow tomorrow with the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov. Quoted by BTA, Malinov commented that he was going to Russia to talk "with friends" and to discuss what actions to take.

In September 2019, Malinov was detained and charged by the prosecutor's office with espionage in favor of Russia. He was then banned from leaving the country and traveled only with court permission. The February 10 announcement by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) stated that after he was arrested and charged and banned from leaving the country, Malinov bribed a Bulgarian judge, to allow him to travel to Russia, where received the Order of Friendship personally from Russian President Vladimir Putin, along with a cash prize of 2.5 million rubles. The judge in question is Andon Mitalov, who was also sanctioned by the US for participating in corrupt activities.

Today, Malinov attended a hearing on the case against him. The charge of espionage for Russia against Malinov was then first brought before the Specialized Criminal Court in June 2021. Thus, his travel ban, as well as other remand measures, were dropped because the indictment was not brought to court within 18 months. After the closure of the special courts and prosecutor's offices last year, the trial against him was transferred to the Sofia City Court. There is still no verdict in the case against him in the first instance.

Malinov stated that he is already suffering sanctions after his name was included in the list under the "Magnitsky" law. All his bank cards and some accounts have been blocked. At the same time, there was a problem with the registration in the Central Election Commission of a quadruple coalition in which the "Rusophiles" participated. Malinov said that in the race for the parliamentary vote, his formation will appear in a coalition with Volen Siderov's “Ataka” party and two other communist movements. The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department also imposed a measure based on Decree 13818 on four legal entities - "Inter Trade 2021" EOOD, "MS Consult 2016" EOOD, National Movement "Russophiles" and Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland - for being owned or controlled directly or indirectly by Malinov.

Follow Novinite.com on Twitter and Facebook

Write to us at editors@novinite.com

Информирайте се на Български - Novinite.bg

/Dnevnik

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!