Russia has sharply condemned Hungary’s decision to expel 10 employees of the Russian Embassy in Budapest, describing the move as an unprecedented and unjustified escalation and warning that it would trigger a response.
Moscow accuses Hungary of anti-Russian rhetoric
The criticism came after Foreign Minister Anita Orbán announced on Tuesday that Hungary had ordered 10 members of the Russian diplomatic mission to leave the country because, according to the Hungarian authorities, they had engaged in activities incompatible with diplomatic status under the Vienna Convention.
Russian Ambassador to Hungary Evgeny Stanislavov said in a statement published by the embassy in Budapest that the expulsions showed the new Hungarian government had fallen “captive to ideologically motivated, anti-Russian rhetoric”. He also dismissed Budapest’s assurances that it wanted to preserve dialogue and continue pragmatic cooperation with Moscow.
According to the ambassador, statements by the Hungarian side about maintaining channels of communication with the Kremlin and continuing practical cooperation were now “worth nothing” in light of the decision. Moscow views the move as an “extremely unfriendly step” and an “unprecedented and unjustified escalation”, Stanislavov said, adding that it would receive an appropriate response.
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Hungary insists diplomatic relations will continue
Anita Orbán stressed when announcing the expulsions that the measure does not mean Hungary is breaking off diplomatic relations with Moscow. Budapest still intends to maintain the necessary dialogue with them, she said, based on mutual respect and compliance with international rules. The Hungarian government has said the decision was taken to protect the country’s security and sovereignty, while Russian MP’s claim it was only to pledge loyalty to Brussels.
András Rácz, deputy director-general of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, said that, according to the conventions of diplomatic language, the foreign minister’s statement strongly suggested that the 10 expelled Russian representatives had been working under diplomatic cover while allegedly carrying out intelligence activities.
The Kremlin has already signalled that retaliatory measures could follow. A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry reportedly promised a “tough and painful” response. Aleksey Chepa, deputy chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, told Russian state news agency TASS that Moscow would first respond in kind. He also warned that Hungary’s decision could lead to a reduction in joint economic projects with Moscow.
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Opposition parties attack the government’s decision
Hungary’s opposition parties Fidesz and KDNP have also criticised the expulsions, although for different reasons. Fidesz described the move as “nothing more than a distraction”, arguing that the government should instead address issues including the budget deficit, public debt and fuel prices.
The KDNP warned that the decision and the Russian response it may provoke could have “unforeseeable consequences”. The party argued that Russia remained difficult to replace as a source of natural gas and crude oil imports, warning that a hasty diplomatic step could ultimately affect Hungarian households through higher energy bills.
While stressing that every government has a duty to protect national security and sovereignty, the KDNP said the move marked the abandonment of Hungary’s previous “peace policy” and the beginning of a dismantling of the country’s pragmatic relationships outside Europe.
The diplomatic dispute now appears set to deepen, with Moscow promising retaliation while Budapest maintains that it wants to keep communication channels open despite the unprecedented expulsion of 10 Russian embassy employees.
Read also: Hungary condemns Russia’s ‘serious threat’ after alleged drone plot in Germany
Hungary’s response to the Russian embassy’s insolence should be to expel more of the bastards.
You can trust Fidesz to come running to lick Putin’s ass in defence. Orban is still on the payroll. “Public debt”, “deficit” – Huh? Weren’t you in power for the last 16 years creating these problems and now you have the nerve to lecture to the Tisza government about deficit and debt. Weren’t you the people who promoted Donald Trump as saviour of the world and now Trump’s war with Iran brought Hungarians high energy prices. Did Donald Trump bring peace to Ukraine? – No. Not only that he has been busy launching a war with Iran. Fidesz are the worst lying scum who have brought this country down.
It is no wonder that this system is lagging behind economically across the board and has by now reached the level of a banana republic. For here, too, a system of lies—much like in the military—is rife.
Russian Z-propagandists acknowledge that Ukrainian counterattacks are taking place in the Liman area Ukrainian counterattacks are taking place, and they criticize the culture of lying in reports on the situation at the front that is widespread within the Russian armed forces. This is noted in a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Yesterday, September 9, Russian military correspondents stated that the situation on the Lyman front is increasingly deteriorating for Russian troops and that Russian forces were forced to retreat from unidentified forward positions in the area.
“A Russian military blogger claimed that Ukrainian forces had been conducting counterattacks in this area for several months, despite the fact that reports from the Russian military command and maps from other military correspondents reflected an ‘optimistic view’ of the situation,” — notes the ISW.
Moreover, they even coined a term to describe the culture of lies and disinformation about the situation on the front lines that is widespread within the Russian armed forces—“good news”—emphasizing that such practices should be “absolutely prohibited.”
ISW points out that Ukrainian forces recently demonstrated full control over Svyatogorsk (northwest of Lyman), and this occurred just a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian forces controlled the town.
At the same time, Russian military correspondents acknowledged the accuracy of the Ukrainian refutation of the information regarding Svyatogorsk. The Institute for the Study of War notes that Russian bloggers are increasingly expressing frustration over false claims by Russian officials regarding advances, particularly in the Lyman sector, and point out that such false reports create operational risks for Russian forces.
The ISW emphasizes that the current length of the front line in the Lyman sector remains unclear due to the limited amount of publicly available evidence of Ukrainian troop advances during the recent counteroffensive.
“ISW’s mapping methodology underestimates the likely scale of Ukrainian gains in the ongoing counterattacks in the Lyman sector. Additional publicly available information will likely reveal their full extent over time,” the Institute’s report states.
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-september-9-2026/
Of course, the Russians are completely innocent again. It was surely the Germans or the British, who just want to cast Russia in a bad light.
The plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was nearly struck by a drone as it was taking off from Moldova en route to Oslo, the capital of Norway.
This information was announced by the head of the Norwegian government, Jonas Gar Støre, whose remarks are quoted by NRK.
“A drone nearly hit him as he was flying out of Moldova,” the prime minister said, adding that this is the reality the Ukrainian leader has to live with.
However, the Norwegian prime minister did not disclose any further details about the incident. In particular, it is unclear from his statement exactly where he obtained the information about the incident.
It should be noted that on Tuesday, September 8, Moldova’s Ministry of Defense reported a violation of the country’s airspace by a drone, which was preliminarily identified as a “Shahed”-type UAV. According to Moldovan authorities, the violation occurred around 4:20 p.m. local time. Reports later emerged that the drone had crashed in a field. The day before, monitoring sources reported that a Russian jet-powered drone had flown over nearly the entire territory of Moldova and approached Romania.
https://www.nrk.no/artikkel/zelenskyjs-fly-ble-forsinket-av-dronetrussel-1527509