Hungary: Orban's government planes, suspected of transporting money and goods from Russia

The government led by Viktor Orban is facing serious accusations after investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi revealed that Hungary's official planes may have conducted suspicious transports from Russia starting in 2016-2017.

The information has been confirmed by officials from at least six EU and NATO member countries, who indicated that Hungarian aircraft returned from Russia with valuable goods. Panyi explained that the data does not come from direct interceptions, but from monitoring discussions among Russian officials. He also mentioned that the Hungarian Ministry of Justice has opened a spy case against him, which could be related to his investigation.

The pro-government publication Mandiner aired an audio recording in which Panyi discusses the interception of conversations of Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, leading to a smear campaign against him. On March 23, Panyi published a transcript of a 2020 conversation between Szijjártó and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which the Hungarian official requested support for Robert Fico's party in Slovakia. So far, Hungarian authorities have not commented on these accusations.