Orbán cabinet tries to prove that opposition leader Péter Magyar is a tool of Ukraine’s influence operations
Hungary’s ruling Fidesz has proposed convening parliament’s national security committee over opposition Tisza Party leader Péter Magyar’s connection to Ukraine’s influence operations, the party’s group leader said on Facebook on Friday.
Máté Kocsis said it was vital to “clarify new information that surfaced in the press today on a connection between Ukrainian influence operations and the Tisza Party”. He said Hungary’s secret services would have to conduct a thorough investigation into Magyar’s connection to a high-ranking officer in Ukraine’s military public administration.
“In light of all this, we have initiated convening another meeting of the national security committee for next Tuesday where we will request a briefing on these matters, and, if possible, we will propose releasing the available information to the public,” Kocsis said.
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Unprecedented for non-NATO Ukraine to carry out secret service operations against NATO member Hungary, says Orbán
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called it “unprecedented” for non-NATO member state Ukraine to carry out “secret service operations” against NATO member state Hungary. “NATO cannot tolerate this either,” he said on his way to the European Political Community summit in Tirana.
Asked what would be on the agenda of the meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the prime minister said “the Ukrainians”. In a video uploaded to his social media page on Friday, he said Ukraine was carrying out “a well-coordinated, organised, funded, disinformation smear campaign” against Hungary.
“This is unacceptable. NATO cannot tolerate this either,” he said.
Hungary confronting smear campaign, says defence minister
Hungary is still contending with a smear campaign against it, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, the defence minister, told lawmakers on Friday, adding that Hungarian security agencies are investigating this, including the activities and contacts of former Chief of Staff Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi.
The smear campaign aims to create confusion around the upcoming Hungarian referendum on Ukraine’s EU accession and undermine the government’s credibility, he told a meeting of parliament’s national defence and law enforcement committee.
The single item on the agenda was a briefing on “the position represented by the former Chief of Staff in NATO” and the suspicion that comments made in his official capacity, including pro-Ukrainian statements, were at odds with the government’s policy. Szalay-Bobrovniczky declared that Ruszin-Szendi “had certainly and manifestly acted incorrectly”.
At the government’s request, EU and NATO bodies have already sent some material including audio recordings, which will form the basis for assessing the extent to which he failed to represent the Hungarian government’s anti-war stance, therefore neglecting to highlight the dangers of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.
It would then be possible to judge “how serious these allegations are and how far they stand up legally”, he added.
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