Nikolay Staykov

Nikolay Staykov is a journalist, editor and OSINT trainer with an academic background in economics, specialising in anti-corruption, financial and international trade investigations.  

Nikolay served for many years as editor and deputy editor-in-chief of Capital Weekly, Bulgaria’s leading political and business weekly, and later continued investigative work through civil-society journalism platforms. He co-founded the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF), the country’s leading anticorruption watchdog in 2016. In 2021, the US Department of State recognised him as a Global Anti-Corruption Champion, citing his “critical role in unveiling high-level public corruption in Bulgaria over the past few years… that led to a number of high-level political resignations”. The statement further noted that his work uncovered new leads in corruption cases and helped catalyse public demand for good governance and the rule of law.  

In the recent years Nikolay has delivered guest teaching and practitioner training, including as visiting faculty at the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA, part of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) in Vienna and in workshops hosted by the American University in Bulgaria. 

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as part of the research team of Next Level Initiatives (Netherlands) and, later, Center for Strategic Advantage (UK) he has focused on Russia’s defence-industrial base and sanctions-evasion networks, producing evidence-based analysis intended to support Ukraine and its international allies. 

As part of a joint UK-Ukraine-Bulgaria research team, Nikolay has contributed to three RUSI publications on Russian military-industrial clusters: Ore to Ordnance: Disrupting Russia’s Artillery Supply Chains (October 2024, with the Open Source Centre);  Vulnerabilities in Sukhoi Production: Clipping Russia’s Wings (November 2025);  and Disrupting Russian Air Defence Production: Reclaiming the Sky (December 2025). The findings from these reports have been discussed in specialist defence reporting and broader policy debate in Ukraine and its Western allies, and even in some Russian publications.

Nikolay’s comments and opinions can be found in publications in a number of international media, including RFE, The Insider, Financial Times, Le Monde, Reuters, The Economist and many others.