Russian diplomats in spy row expelled from Hungary in recent years

A Russian man was walking and waiting for someone in a park in Budapest. There was nothing extraordinary about his look and acting; he seemed like a regular man. Children were playing around him and parents were talking to each other. Everything was so ordinary that even this Russian man did not find it suspicious when two men started to approach him. One of them stood in front of him and held up his badge. These two men came from the Military National Security Service, and their task is to find Russian spies hiding in Hungary, and also to suspend them from the country.

According to 444.hu, this action was the result of long months of careful preparation and planning. These men had only one duty, and they had to do it without making any mistake: to catch Russian spies from the Russian Military Service, who arrived to collect information about Hungary. This case was not the Security Service’s first one. Since 2010, ten Russian spies got caught in secret in the Hungarian capital city.

The Military National Security Service believes that these spies are in contact with villains in the Balkan region.

Agents from the National Security Service reported this case to the Hungarian government on 1^st December 2016. Agents held their annual presentation about the Service’s work in 2016: what they have achieved and what to expect in the future. Their presentation amazed every member of the Parliament’s Security Service. Politician Bernadett Szél was asked to tell details about this amazing presentation, but she only said that

“it was a powerful presentation.”

The aim of these actions was to find these spies in the country and to persuade them to leave the country immediately. It is important that these processes are not taken to court and remain mainly in secret. Only certain people from the government can know when and how these actions take place. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in each country gets notified if a spy is caught in Hungary.

There is, however, an odd thing about this procedure: in Hungary, it is not official, and every name of agents’ caught remains secret. This way, Hungary can avoid any possible confrontations with Russia.

The only official expulsion in Hungary since 2010 happened this year in spring, when Budapest suspended a Russian diplomat. Later though, it was revealed that Budapest and Moscow were cooperating in the background the whole time, and the Russian diplomat already ended his work when he was caught.

The only drawback about this expulsion in secrecy is that it encourages Russian spies to come to Hungary, as it is not as risky as in Western-European countries. When they are caught, they are simply asked to leave the country.

The Hungarian Parliament added that in many cases, the Russian diplomats’ missions are not specifically related to Hungary and the Hungarian nation, but to a third country or person.

Source: 444.hu