An international movement of Russophiles will be established on 14 March in Moscow, following an initiative by Nikolay Malinov, head of the Bulgarian National Movement Russophiles, who is teaming up with US actor Steven Seagal, EURACTIV Bulgaria’s partner Dnevnik reports.
The Russian Foreign Ministry supports the initiative and Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend the event. Seagal, who has lived in Russia for years and is a special representative of its Foreign Ministry for Humanitarian Relations with the USA and Japan, will also attend.
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Lavrov will participate in the founding congress of the International Movement of Russophiles, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the ministry, confirmed on 9 March. The Russian state, political and public figures, representatives of science, culture and foreign delegates from several dozen countries will be present, said Zakharova, as quoted by TASS.
Malinov currently faces espionage charges in Bulgaria and was recently sanctioned by the US government under the International Magnitsky Act for allegedly bribing a judge, who allowed him to travel abroad and receive a Russian award personally from President Vladimir Putin. The judge was also sanctioned but not under the Magnitsky Act.
The Russophiles and Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland movement were also sanctioned by the US in February for being directly or indirectly controlled by Malinov.
Konstantin Malofeev, the chairman of the board of directors of the media group Tsargrad – a group dedicated to Russian Orthodox Christianity and supporting Putin – will also attend the event on 14 March.
Malinov claims that Putin already supported his idea for an International Movement of Russophiles at his meeting with the Russian president on 4 November 2019.
On 15 February, Malinov said he would meet Lavrov in Moscow to talk “with friends”. It remains unknown whether he returned to Bulgaria after that, since he appeared on Russia’s main TV channel Perviy Kanal on 27 February and published a photo of himself hugging Malofeev on his Telegram channel on 6 March.
The aim of the International Russophiles Movement is to bring together “true patriots” from different countries united by their love for Russia and its culture who strive for a multipolar world based on the traditions of the peoples, according to one of Malofeev’s publications. The organisation is also aiming to set up a European Citizen’s Initiative to lift EU sanctions against Russia and to hold events related to history and the anti-fascist struggle, Malinov said on Russian television.
Malinov is “the most Russian of the Bulgarians”, Tsargrad wrote with enthusiasm.
On 27 February, Malinov participated in “The Big Game” programme on Perviy Kanal, in which he said that those who declare Russia an aggressor are “barbarians, Russophobes and modern fascists”.
While Malinov was speaking, huge screens broadcast footage from Bulgaria and like-minded people stamping on the flag of the European Union who were posing with “Putin is our president” t-shirts.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
Source: euractiv.com
