This article was originally published by EURACTIV’s media partner, Telex.
After documents surfaced proving that for years, Russian hackers have had virtually full access to the entire IT system of Hungary’s foreign affairs and trade ministry, and the Hungarian government did nothing to stop them, the united opposition has called for the resignation of Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
Asked about this in an interview on Hungary’s ATV on Tuesday evening (29 March), the mayor of Budapest and prominent opposition figure, Gergely Karácsony, said the Russian services have always “liked to hover around big elections”, and we know that they have been involved in the Brexit referendum and the American presidential elections before.
“Considering that the Hungarian government is the most pro-Russian one within the European Union, I think it goes without saying that there will be interference in the Hungarian election campaign as well,” Karácsony said.
On Wednesday morning, Szijjártó went on a counter-offensive with an announcement on his Facebook page, saying that a few days ago, his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba, had called Ljubov Nepop, Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary “to consult about the possibility of influencing the Hungarian election”.
“The recently published news is true. The Hungarian left has been busted. They are busted, and now we know that there is ongoing consultation between the Hungarian left and the representatives of the Ukrainian government, ” Szijjártó announced, without specifying which news outlet he was referring to.
“The Hungarian left has made a promise that if they came to power, they would immediately make a decision to supply arms to Ukraine, and would immediately vote in favour of sanctions on oil and gas supplies to Europe, including Hungary,” Szijjártó said.
On Wednesday morning, the pro-government Magyar Nemzet reported, citing national security sources, that the staff of Péter Márki-Zay, the united opposition’s candidate for prime minister, had contacted the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
When Telex asked for a comment, Péter Zaránd the campaign manager of Hungary’s united opposition, Egységben Magyarországért, repeated what he had told Telex on Tuesday, in response to a similar statement from Szijjártó.
Zaránd said that this is but a cheap campaign trick and a distortion aimed at diverting attention from the article published by Direkt36 and Telex, which clearly shows the responsibility of Viktor Orbán’s government, and even Szijjártó himself, in exposing the country to national security threats and allowing continued Russian interference.
Meanwhile, poll results are inconclusive ahead of elections but the united opposition, as well as some analysts and observers, have voiced concerns that the election would not be “fair”.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
Source: euractiv.com
