Viktor Orbán’s nemesis Péter Magyar on Thursday accused Moscow of political interference in Hungary.
“After 34 years, Russia is once again attempting to directly interfere in Hungarian politics, openly trying to influence the decisions of Hungarian voters,” opposition leader Magyar — who holds a sharp lead on Orbán, the longtime prime minister, in current polling — wrote in a post on Facebook.
“The last Soviet soldier left our country in June 1991. Now their operatives are back — sometimes working undercover, sometimes openly. We know their methods: disinformation, threats, hackers, digital troll farms, smear campaigns and blackmail,” he said.
Magyar weighed in after Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused the European Commission Wednesday of preparing to change “regime in Budapest.”
“According to SVR, European Commission President U. von der Leyen is seriously studying scenarios for changing the ‘regime in Budapest.’ She sees the leader of the opposition party ‘Respect and Freedom’ P. Magyar, who is loyal to the globalist elites, as the main candidate for the post of head of government,” the statement said.
Russia’s remarks echo Orbán’s comments from October 2023, when he accused the EU of trying to establish a “puppet government” in Budapest and urged Hungarian citizens to defy Brussels like they confronted the Soviet army in 1956.
Magyar said the Russian ambassador to Hungary, Yevgeny Stanislavov, should explain.
“I demand an immediate explanation from Russia’s ambassador to Hungary: On whose orders, and for what exact purpose, are they interfering in our domestic affairs?” he said.
Magyar’s center-right Respect and Freedom Party, or Tisza, currently has an 8 percentage point lead over the governing right-wing Fidesz, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, seriously threatening Orbán’s decade-and-a-half of rule in next spring’s parliamentary election.