An increasingly acrimonious dispute between Hungary and Ukraine has escalated further as Budapest seized two Ukrainian armored banking vehicles carrying millions of euros in cash as well as gold bars.
Seven Ukrainian citizens who accompanied the convoy were also detained. Hungarian officials said the detained Ukrainians had links to intelligence and suggested the money could be of dubious origin, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Budapest of “taking hostages and stealing money.”
Sybiha also accused pro-Russian Hungarian President Viktor Orbán of preparing the scandal for political gain ahead of next month’s Hungarian elections.
Hungary’s national tax and customs administration said it had opened a money laundering investigation into the shipment, which it said consisted of $40 million and €35 million in cash, as well as 9 kg of gold. He said one of those arrested was “a former general of the Ukrainian intelligence service.”
Oschadbank, Ukraine’s state savings bank, said its staff were transporting cash and gold between Austria and Ukraine on a “routine journey,” made by land due to restrictions on air travel in Ukraine.
But Orbán’s political director, Balázs Orbán, cast doubt on the shipment: “Legitimate financial transactions do not move through Hungary with armored vehicles full of cash and gold,” he wrote in X. “The real question is simple: who is behind this money and what is it intended to finance?”
The seizure follows a dispute over gas supplies, in which Hungary and Slovakia accused kyiv of deliberately stopping repairs to an oil pipeline after it was hit by an apparent Russian drone attack. In response, Orbán vetoed new EU sanctions on Russia, as well as an additional €90 billion loan for Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the loan veto on Thursday with what sounded like a physical threat to Orbán. “We hope that one person in the European Union does not block the 90 billion. Otherwise, we will give this person’s address to our armed forces, to our guys. Let them call him and talk to him in their own language,” he said, in comments that caused a stir in Budapest.
Ukrainian officials have accused Orbán of starting the scandal for political gain ahead of a hotly contested election next month. Recent polls have suggested that opposition candidate Péter Magyar will win a resounding victory in next month’s elections, ending 16 years of Orbán rule.
Orbán has stepped up the rhetoric on Ukraine, claiming that a Magyar victory could drag Hungary into war.
Hungarian analysts said Zelenskyy’s words worked in Orbán’s favor and could help him in the polls. Robert Laszlo of the Budapest think tank Political Capital said Zelenskyy’s threats could be enough to trigger the “war psychosis that the Hungarian government has been provoking for months” and change the public mood.
“No one expected that it would be the Ukrainian president who would bring Viktor Orbán back into the game,” he said.
Zsuzsanna Végh, an analyst at the German Marshall Fund, agreed: “Zelensky’s comments play into Orban’s hands. He could easily turn this into a threat against Hungary rather than a threat against him, thus reinforcing his own narrative,” she said.
Magyar, who had been trying to avoid being drawn directly into the dispute over Ukraine, was forced to defend Orbán, apparently worried about losing ground on the issue.
“The Ukrainian president threatened Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. No foreign head of state can threaten a Hungarian or anyone else,” Magyar said during a political rally, adding that Zelenskyy could also share his speech with the Ukrainian military. Magyar called on the European Union to cut all ties with Ukraine until Zelenskyy apologized for his statement.
Hungarian officials said on Friday that the seven detained Ukrainians would be expelled from Hungary, but it was not immediately clear what would happen to the seized money and gold.
The detainees’ lawyer, Lóránt Horváth, told the news site 24.hu that he was trying to find his clients but had no information about where they were being held. “I really don’t know how to understand what’s happening here, but it’s not normal procedure,” he said.
