Nickolay Mladenov

Nikolay Evtimov Mladenov (Bulgarian: Николай Евтимов Младенов; born 5 May 1972) is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat, who worked for the United Nations. He served as Bulgaria's Minister of Defense from 27 July 2009 to 27 January 2010 and as the minister of foreign affairs in the government of then prime minister Boyko Borisov from 2010 to 2013. Prior to that, he was a Member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009.

On 2 August 2013 Mladenov was appointed as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. From 5 February 2015 until 31 December 2020, Mladenov served as UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. When he left that role, he received praise from both Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Nikolay Mladenov was one of the two Bulgarian politicians exposed in the Pandora Papers, together with oligarch Delyan Peevski sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. The leak revealed that he was the beneficial owner of an offshore company called Afron Enterprises in the Seychelles.

Mladenov denied any wrongdoing and claimed he simply founded an offshore firm to develop a consultancy practice before his involvement in the UN. However, the offshore company was founded on 9 August 2013, a week after Mladenov joined the UN as Special Representative in Iraq and Head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq on 2 August 2013. Prior to the Pandora papers scandal in 2021, Mr. Mladenov had not disclosed his offshore company to the UN, despite being required to do so.