Hungarian opposition leader accuses Russia of interfering in elections

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar accused Russia of interfering in the parliamentary elections scheduled for April 2026 in the country. This week, Russian foreign intelligence published a statement containing phrases often used by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to discredit his former associate.

UNN reports with reference to Bloomberg.

Details

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar accused Russia of using its special services to undermine his political campaign in the country, which could also be seen as serving the interests of Moscow's closest ally, current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is the Kremlin's closest ally in the European Union.

Context

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service published a statement on Wednesday that repeated lines Orbán has often used to discredit his political opponent. In particular, attention is drawn to attempts to portray Magyar as a puppet of the European Commission. Interestingly, Hungary's current Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó confirmed the Russian accusations against Magyar in his statement on Thursday. The official referred to the text published in Moscow as containing "nothing new."

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar, in connection with all of the above, made the following remarks:

• after 34 years, Russia again wants to directly interfere in Hungarian politics;
• (Russia is trying) shamelessly to influence the decisions of Hungarian voters.

Magyar wrote about this in a Facebook post. The meaning of these statements hints at the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary in the early 1990s.

He also said

I want to tell Vladimir Putin that we are not afraid of him. We are not afraid of Viktor Orbán or propagandists. We will work for a truly functional European country

Recall

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar announced the "complete failure" of Viktor Orbán's referendum on Ukraine's accession to the EU. The poll lasted from April to June 20, with no more than 600,000 people participating, which is the lowest figure in the history of National Consultations.