The presence of Russian spies in Hungary is at the maximum

The European activities of the Russian secret agents were the main topics of a Hungarian podcast. According to national security expert, Ferenc Katrein and journalist, András Dezső, Russia’s main purpose is to destabilise the EU and weaken the alliance among the NATO members. However, the Hungarian government seems to turn a blind eye to its secret, ongoing operations.

“Hungary, unfortunately, is not a difficult ground for Russian spies,” said András Dezső, Hungarian journalist (HVG) in a podcast operated by a Hungarian site, Nyugati Pályán. The journalist, who published a book on the work of Hungarian secret intelligence services  (in Hungarian: Fedősztori) agreed with Katrein that the presence of Russian secret agents is at the maximum in Hungary. However, as the experts highlighted later, their number started rising earlier than the outbreak of the war.

In their opinion, Russia aims to interfere with European countries’ politics by disseminating misinformation, sabotaging actions and conducting assassinations, like murdering Russian oligarchs on the pretense of an accident. In connection with the latter, Katrein mentioned the shocking Skripal-case when Russian agents poisoned a former agent and his daughter in 2016, in Great Britain.

According to Dezső, Russia wants to destabilase the EU and weaken the alliance between the NATO members. To achieve this, the former Soviet country often sends agents to conduct undercover operations and join – mostly new – political parties.  This information will certainly influence Hungary’s politics towards Russia in the future. It is a Russian interest that the EU should not be unified, Dezső reckoned. At this point of the conversation, he also brought IP the case of KGBéla, the Hungarian opposition politician, who was revealed to be a spy of the Russian Federation.

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Nonetheless, the Hungarian government turns a blind eye to Russian operations. The experts reasoned that with the example of the relocation of the International Investment Bank (IIB, which has been funded by the Russians and was also dubbed spy bank) to Budapest, which enabled the agents of the Federation to use the bank for their undercover operations. In addition, the government nurtures a good relationship with the Orthodox Church, (which is also rumoured to maintain connections with secret agencies). On top of that, Hungary vetoed the EU sanctions, which aimed to ban the Russian Orthodox bishop, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, from the EU. The right-hand man of Patriarch Kirill has since moved to Hungary, Dezső added.

Moreover, as Dezső pointed out, the government has still not expelled any diplomats from the county. Besides, no action was taken when it was revealed that Russian hackers had attacked the Foreign Ministry’s informatic system in 2021.

You can listen to the original podcast in Hungarian:

Read alsoWhat happened? Hungary says Russia is a terrorist state

Author: Bence Keresztes

Source: HVG