(Bloomberg) --
A Bulgarian accused of spying for Russia was allowed by a court in his home country to visit Moscow, where he received an award from President Vladimir Putin.
Despite being barred from foreign travel as part of a $28,000 bail agreement two months ago, the court granted Nikolay Malinov permission to go to Russia on Nov. 1, according to prosecutors.
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There, the former lawmaker and head of Bulgaria's National Russophiles Movement attended a reception marking Russia's National Unity Day and was presented with the state honor, according to official footage. Prosecutors are seeking an inquiry into the court's decision.
While Bulgarian-Russian relations are generally cordial, Malinov was charged with supplying information to a Russian research institute and a non-governmental organization to help alter his country's geopolitical trajectory. He denies wrongdoing over the offenses, which carry a potential prison term of as long as 15 years.
The award from Putin recognized Malinov's contribution “to the development of friendship and cooperation between our countries” and “should not be a matter of any prosecution,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday on a conference call. “We hope that people like him will have the opportunity to continue to work.”
Malinov saw retired Russian secret service Lieutenant-General Leonid Reshetnikov, who's deputy head of the NGO and has been banned from visiting Bulgaria for 10 years, in Moscow.
“I met General Reshetnikov -- we ate, drank and went to a Russian bath,” he said late Monday. “My most important meeting was with Putin, and fortunately I had the opportunity to talk for five to six minutes about Bulgaria, the Russophiles and his opinion of what we do.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Slav Okov in Sofia at sokov@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Irina Vilcu at isavu@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Andrea Dudik
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