Hungary's Orban accused of utilizing Ukraine spy row in battle for political survival

[ad_1] Nick Thorpe Central Europe correspondent

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/c411/live/90b512a0-3b25-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/c411/live/90b512a0-3b25-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c411/live/90b512a0-3b25-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/c411/live/90b512a0-3b25-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/c411/live/90b512a0-3b25-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/c411/live/90b512a0-3b25-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/c411/live/90b512a0-3b25-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c411/live/90b512a0-3b25-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.png.webp" loading="eager" alt="SBU Two men in uniform hold a suspect dressed in black alleged to be a spy" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> SBU Ukraine stated it uncovered a Hungarian espionage community earlier this month

A spate of arrests, diplomatic expulsions and public humiliations has plunged relations between war-torn Ukraine and its prickly Nato neighbour Hungary to a brand new low.

On the coronary heart of the row are accusations that Viktor Orban's Fidesz authorities in Hungary is utilizing the spat to battle his essential political rival, the opposition Tisza get together, which leads within the polls forward of 2026 elections.

Earlier this month, Ukraine's SBU safety service introduced the arrest of two Ukrainian residents accused of spying for Hungary.

In accordance with the allegations, backed by video and audio proof, the person and girl had been within the pay of Hungarian navy intelligence, making ready for Hungarian navy motion in Ukraine.

Hungary then expelled two Ukrainian diplomats and Ukraine adopted swimsuit in a tit-for-tat response that has additional broken already bitter relations. Hungary additionally arrested a Ukrainian citizen and accused him of spying.

Orban is extensively seen as Russia's closest ally within the European Union, and his authorities has damaged ranks along with his European companions by sustaining commerce and opposing sanctions on Russia, refusing to permit the transit of weapons, and evaluating Ukraine to Afghanistan.

Now he has accused Kyiv of attempting to "vilify" his nation.

All eight million Hungarian households not too long ago acquired a questionnaire from the federal government, dubbed "Vox 2025", inviting them to reject Ukraine's EU membership.

Beneath a 12 months in the past, Orban introduced himself as the one individual on the planet aside from the Pope, who was attempting to safe an unconditional ceasefire.

However his critics depicted his so-called peace mission to Kyiv, Moscow and different capitals as an try to reward Russian aggression.

The day after Orban met Russia's Vladimir Putin, Russian missiles struck the Ohmatdyt kids's hospital in Kyiv.

Three days later, the chief of the Tisza Occasion in Hungary, Peter Magyar, introduced $40,000 of Hungarian medical assist to the hospital. Opinion polls recommend Magyar may oust Orban from energy subsequent April.

The person who drove the Tisza chief to Kyiv, Roland Tseber, is now a goal of Fidesz makes an attempt to accuse the Hungarian opposition get together of betraying Hungary.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/1e0d/live/af989800-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/1e0d/live/af989800-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1e0d/live/af989800-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/1e0d/live/af989800-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/1e0d/live/af989800-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/1e0d/live/af989800-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/1e0d/live/af989800-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1e0d/live/af989800-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Roland Tseber Two men in white shirts stand in front of a white building, the man on the left has sunglasses on his head" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Roland Tseber Roland Tseber (R) drove Peter Magyar (L) to Kyiv in July 2024 after a Russian assault on the capital

Roland Tseber got here throughout as a fresh-faced, hard-working politician once I met him at a Ukrainian refugee centre in Uzhorod in April.

He was serving to distribute medical assist from Hungary, working with Hungarian docs and psychologists who've supported internally displaced Ukrainians from the jap battle zone, since 2022.

His troubles started inside weeks of Peter Magyar's go to, he advised me.

In August, he heard he was banned from Hungary and, at Hungary's insistence, from the entire Schengen zone of the EU, with out clarification.

Mr Tseber's letter to the Hungarian embassy in Kyiv went unanswered.

The chief of the far-right Our Homeland get together within the Hungarian Parliament, Laszlo Toroczkai, labelled him a "terrorist". Mate Kocsis the chief of the Fidesz faction within the Hungarian parliament, has known as him a "Ukrainian spy", lengthy within the sights of Hungarian counter-intelligence.

"I reject all such accusations which attempt to hyperlink me to intelligence actions of any type. That is ridiculous. I am a Transcarpathian politician who works truthfully and overtly for his homeland and for Hungarian pursuits," Mr Tseber advised me in a telephone interview.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/20fa/live/29ae36f0-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/20fa/live/29ae36f0-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/20fa/live/29ae36f0-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/20fa/live/29ae36f0-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/20fa/live/29ae36f0-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/20fa/live/29ae36f0-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/20fa/live/29ae36f0-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/20fa/live/29ae36f0-3b24-11f0-aeea-fdc959b41973.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="A Hungarian ambulance stands outside a Ukrainian hospital in Perechyn, Transcarpathia, April 2025" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Regardless of Orban's stance, Hungarians have despatched medical assist to Ukraine

As an elected, unbiased councillor within the regional meeting of Transcarpathia, who sits within the political group of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the Folks get together, he meets politicians of all shades, he says, together with the deputy Hungarian International Minister, Levente Magyar.

"I am a Ukrainian politician and I meet with everybody. This complete scenario is ridiculous. They wish to drag me into this spy story. However anybody with any widespread sense can perceive that that is absurd."

The weakest hyperlink within the Hungarian authorities's narrative is that if he was actually on the radar of Hungarian intelligence, authorities politicians and Peter Magyar as a Member of the European Parliament would have been warned to avoid him.

The dwindling Hungarian group in Transcarpathia has change into collateral injury within the Ukraine-Hungary row.

In Ukraine's final census, in 2001, their inhabitants was 150,000, however newest estimates recommend their quantity has since halved to 70-80,000. Dozens have misplaced their lives, preventing for Ukraine in opposition to Russia.

One other twist within the story is {that a} former Hungarian chief-of-staff, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, who's now a outstanding Tisza get together politician, has come below assault from government-controlled media.

The federal government alleges that "a former senior determine within the defence sector" - an obvious reference to Ruszin-Szendi - was in touch with Ukrainian intelligence.

Ruszin-Szendi hit again, alleging a smear marketing campaign. "I'm a good Hungarian citizen who has worn the uniform for the reason that age of 14. I'm shocked and saddened to know that what I and my comrades have executed for our nation is price a lot for you," he addressed the federal government on Fb.

For the reason that full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Viktor Orban has portrayed himself as a person of peace, and gained the April 2022 election with a promise to maintain Hungary out of the battle in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, a speech from 2023 that has solely simply been leaked by Peter Magyar tells a really totally different story.

Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky was recorded saying a 12 months after the battle in Ukraine started that the federal government had determined to interrupt with the peace mentality and transfer to "section zero of the highway to battle", with a combat-read Hungarian military.