Overview
- Prime Minister Viktor Orban said national security services concluded recent Ukrainian remarks amount to a coordinated attempt to sway the April 12 vote, triggering the diplomatic step.
- Ukraine’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticized leaders including Orban in a Davos speech last week.
- Orban has intensified anti-Ukraine messaging, launching a national petition opposing EU financial support for Kyiv and framing the election as a choice between war and peace.
- Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warned that EU partners could push countries to send troops following UK and French plans to deploy personnel once the conflict ends, a move Hungary opposes.
- With Fidesz trailing the opposition Tisza in most polls, Orban is linking rivals to Kyiv and Brussels and resisting calls to cut Russian energy or back what Szijjarto claims could be $1.5 trillion in long-term EU funding for Ukraine.