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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Wednesday that Hungary had returned cash and gold seized from employees of a state-owned Ukrainian bank in March amid a political spat.
“An important step in relations with Hungary – today, the funds and valuables of Oschadbank that were seized by Hungarian special services in March of this year were returned,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media.
“I am grateful to Hungary for its constructive approach and civilized step. I thank everyone on Ukraine’s team who fought for a fair decision and defended the interests of our state and our people.”
Ukraine’s Oschadbank demanded the immediate return of cash and gold confiscated by Hungarian authorities in March, lawyers representing the bank in Hungary told Euronews.
The incident triggered a diplomatic row after Hungarian police raided a convoy of cash carriers near Budapest and seized $40 million, €35 million and 9kg of gold.
Hungary expelled seven Ukrainian nationals accompanying the transport the following day and opened an investigation into suspected money laundering.
Horváth Lawyers, a law firm representing Oschadbank and its seven employees in Hungary, told Euronews that the Ukrainian vehicles were carrying out a routine transfer from Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank to Oschadbank’s headquarters in Kyiv.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Hungary of kidnapping and state terrorism, while his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjártó, said the funds could be linked to criminal activities.
“The question rightly arises whether this is not the money of the Ukrainian war mafia,” Szijjártó said.
Hungary’s outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ordered the government to hold the cash and gold for up to 60 days amid an ongoing money laundering investigation.
Orbán, who led Hungary for 16 years until his ouster in a parliamentary election on 12 April, was widely seen as the most pro-Russian leader in the EU and had a particularly prickly relationship with Kyiv.
Orbán repeatedly used Hungary’s veto power to stall financial assistance to Ukraine and block the country’s EU membership.
But incoming premier Péter Magyar offered last week to meet Zelenskyy to “open a new chapter in bilateral relations” and address a long-running feud over the rights of Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarians.
Late last week, the European Union gave final approval to a €90 billion loan for Ukraine after Hungary lifted its veto, ending a two-month long impasse caused by the Hungarian veto spearheaded by Orbán.
The breakthrough came two days after Zelenskyy announced that the Druzhba pipeline, which carries cheap Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, had been repaired and could resume operations.
The interruption of oil flows through Druzhba was at the core of Orbán’s decision to veto the loan in February. The last-minute blockage outraged other EU leaders, who furiously condemned it as an “unacceptable” attempt to “blackmail.”
Magyar, seen as a more moderate successor to Orbán, said he wanted a reset in relations with Brussels and would evaluate joining the eurozone.
He is also seen as less prickly towards Ukraine, saying he wants Hungary to have friendly relations with all of its neighbours.
Additional sources • AP, AFP