EU imposes sanctions on Nikolay Malinov’s Russophile movement

The European Union has added the International Russophile Movement of Nikolay Malinov to its sanctions list. According to Brussels, the organization spreads destabilizing messages in support of the Kremlin.

The movement was founded three years ago at a congress in Moscow, attended by a number of high-ranking Russian politicians and public figures. Malinov was elected secretary general at the event. He was later charged by the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office with espionage in favor of Russia, BGNES reports.

Participants in the founding forum included Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, neo-imperialist ideologue Alexander Dugin, and businessman Konstantin Malofeev, who is described as a key financier of pro-Kremlin initiatives.

Malinov is a former MP and politician from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). He graduated in history from Kyiv State University. For seven years, until 2015, he published the newspaper Duma. He is also an official representative of Russian television networks in Bulgaria. Since 2023, he has been sanctioned by the United States under the Magnitsky Act.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov
English version: R. Petkova