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. …

Mortgage bonds, which gained infamy in 2007-2008 when they bankrupted Bear Stearns, sent markets plummeting and caused a global financial crisis, will now be promoted in Russia using national pension savings.

The Russian Finance Ministry, Central Bank and the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending (Dom.RF) have approved a roadmap to develop the mortgage bond market, with banks “packaging” physical entities’ mortgage loan payments and reselling them to investors.

Such bonds will be included in …

Mykola Karpyuk, a Ukrainian citizen who was held as a political prisoner in Russia until recently, described on Ukrainian TV how he was tortured in the Russian prison in Vladikavkaz.

“As soon as it got dark, they took me to the corridor, handcuffed, hands behind my back, put a cellophane bag over my head, wrapped around duct tape, cotton wool, so that I could see nothing from below, and then took me out. We traveled for 10-15 minutes, they took me to some kind of facility, took me up to the …

Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted to the Crimean State Council three candidates for the post of the Head of the Republic, reports TASS news agency.

Putin proposed Sergey Aksenov, who is the head of the region since 2014, the first secretary of the Crimean Communist Party Sergey Bogatyrenko and the Deputy of the State Duma from LDPR Pavel Spirov.

Under the regional law, the Head of the Republic …

The US is considering the option of imposing additional sanctions on the Russian oil company Rosneft, which has not merely continued trading oil with Venezuela, but has increased its trade despite the sanctions on the Nicolas Maduro government, said US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliot Abrams at a press conference on Tuesday.

“Throughout this entire year, we have been seeing the growing dependence of the Venezuelan PDVSA and regime on the Russian government and on Rosneft. Constantly …

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the reports that a US intelligence agent had been operating in the Russian Presidential Administration.

Oleg Smolenkov, who is linked to a recent US-Russia espionage scandal, actually worked in the Russian Presidential Administration, but at a low level.

According to Peskov, Smolenkov “was fired several years ago, his position did not fall under the category of senior officials, the so-called decree positions, however he was fired around two or …

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in favor of Poland in its dispute with Russian gas company Gazprom over the Opal pipeline, reports the Polish Energy Ministry on Twitter.

"The court overturned the decision of European Commission, that was giving the Russian concern the right to use the 100% of pipeline," reads the message of the the Polish Energy Ministry. The press service of the court stated that the previous order violated the principle of energy solidarity.

Polish Minister …

The Russian news outlet Avia.pro, which is known for its critical attitude towards Israel, says that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss the hundreds of Russian mercenaries in Syria during his upcoming visit to Moscow.

“Several days ago there were unconfirmed reports that hundreds of Russian soldiers who belong to private military companies could show up in Syrian territory. The goal of their appearance in the northern part of Syria will be to purge the major settlements of …