Bulgaria accuses former deputy of spying for Russia
Bulgaria accuses former MP from the Bulgarian Socialist Party Nikolai Malinov of spying for Russia and money laundering for Russian organizations, reports Radio Liberty. According to Bulgaria's Prosecutor-General Sotir Tsatsarov, Malinov could be sentenced to 5 -15 years in prison.
On September 10, Malinov was released on bail of 25,000 euros. He was banned from leaving the country.
Malinov is accused of receiving money for the transfer of Bulgarian state secrets to two Russian organizations. One of them is the Two-Headed Eagle Community, and the second one is the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies. According to Tsatsarov, this information was directly related to the national security of Bulgaria.
In connection with the incident, Bulgarian authorities also imposed a 10-year entry ban on Leonid Reshetnikov, a former Soviet and Russian foreign intelligence agent who retired in 2009 with the rank of Lieutenant-General.
Reshetnikov is fluent in Bulgarian and Serbian and was Chairman of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies during the period 2009-2017. According to US officials, this organization could have develop a strategy of manipulating the results of the US presidential election in 2016 in favor of Donald Trump.
According to Bulgarian prosecutors, Malinov laundered money through a non-governmental organization Russophile National Movement. Malinov is the head of this organization.