Hungarian spies operated in Brussels for years, trying to recruit EU officials - media
Kyiv • UNN
An investigation by SPIEGEL, De Tijd, and Direkt36 revealed that Hungarian intelligence appears to have been spying on EU institutions in Brussels for years, attempting to recruit European officials. One agent, operating under diplomatic cover, according to the investigation, offered money to a European Commission employee.
Hungarian spies appear to have been operating in Brussels for years, and an investigation for the first time shows that they even tried to recruit EU officials, SPIEGEL reports, writes UNN.
Details
"An investigation by SPIEGEL, the Belgian daily newspaper "De Tijd" and the Hungarian investigative journalism agency "Direkt36" shows how Viktor Orbán's government allegedly used its intelligence to spy on EU institutions many years ago," the publication states.
The publication describes a case of attempted recruitment by an agent it calls V. "He works for Hungarian foreign intelligence. He was in Brussels from 2015 to 2017 under the guise of a diplomat. The person he tried to recruit at the time worked for the European Commission," the publication says.
According to De Tijd, V. was a diplomat at Hungary's Permanent Representation to the EU, officially dealing with economic and financial issues.
"V. was interested not only in the affairs of the European Commission, but also in all sorts of gossip," said a high-ranking Brussels official who refused to be recruited. He met with V. every few months, and the meetings were friendly, SPIEGEL writes.
V. reportedly also had ideas on how to get more Hungarians into important EU positions. According to the official, it was obvious that informants were planned to be introduced. At some point, V. offered money, but the official refused. Security service sources confirm this information, the publication writes.
EU employees also reported suspicious recruitment attempts by V. The Belgian State Security Service stated that it could neither confirm nor deny the incident.
A document from the Hungarian Embassy to the EU reportedly indicates that V. was assigned in 2015 as an employee of the Cohesion Policy Department. V.'s superior was then Hungarian Ambassador to the EU Olivér Várhelyi, who is now an EU Commissioner. Várhelyi did not answer questions on this matter. A spokeswoman stated that there was no evidence that "Commissioner Várhelyi violated any obligations." Agent V. also did not answer questions.
A former Hungarian intelligence officer claims that V. was the first Hungarian to head a secret intelligence service representation - a so-called residency - in the EU capital. Residents are usually known to the host country. In V.'s case, it seems that everything was different, the publication notes.
The "Brussels failure" does not seem to have harmed agent V.'s career. Last year, he reportedly published an article in the journal of the Hungarian Military Intelligence on "current problems" faced by security services. According to the report, he is a lieutenant colonel and an employee of the Information Bureau - an agency that consolidates intelligence data from all Hungarian intelligence services.
SPIEGEL, as noted, knows two more names of alleged Hungarian spies who also attracted attention at the same time due to overly explicit attempts to establish contact. According to insiders, Budapest's agents are also engaged in collecting information and filling gaps.
De Tijd writes that "Hungarian spies can be found at Hungary's Permanent Representation to the EU." "Ten years ago, Hungary began stationing IH (Hungarian intelligence Információs Hivatal - ed.) employees there, up to six people at a time. These were the so-called KHT-1 (Hungarian abbreviation meaning "deployed intelligence officers"). They were assisted by KHT-2, the equivalents of the former communist SZT: secret employees. They work even more secretly and are not even officially employed by IH, which means "clean" resumes," the Belgian newspaper reports.
"If Orbán's agents appear to have spied on Brussels officials, it also reflects the degree of unfriendliness in relations with the EU," SPIEGEL notes.
Hungary, as indicated, participates in intelligence cooperation within the EU. "Allied states usually refrain from spying on each other. The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) does not monitor Hungary, although this country is considered a difficult partner," the publication writes.