Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto flew to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. The timing of the visit raises questions, coming only five weeks before Hungary’s parliamentary elections, which polls suggest will be the closest contest in 16 years. Polls show the ruling party trailing the newcomer opposition Tisza party by 5-8 percentage points. Experts warn that Russia has a vested interest in keeping Viktor Orban, the NATO member country leader with the closest ties to Moscow, in power. Some form of interference in the election is widely suspected. Officially, Szijjarto traveled to Moscow to discuss energy relations with Russia at a sensitive moment, as crude oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline have been halted for more than a month. Hungary relies on Russia for about 90 per cent of its oil and blames Ukraine for not repairing the pipeline quickly enough after it was hit by a Russian drone. Developments around Iran and the Persian Gulf have heightened concerns that oil and gas prices could reach record highs and that transit routes for energy-dependent countries such as Hungary could become more complicated. During a televised segment of the meeting, Szijjarto asked Putin for guarantees that the oil and gas Hungary needs would somehow continue to be supplied by Russia. He also accused Ukraine of forcibly conscripting members of its Hungarian ethnic minority and asked for Putin’s help in releasing those who had fallen into Russian captivity. Just by coincidence, two PoWs with Hungarian roots happened to be in Moscow and were able to return with Szijjarto. “Our country freed the men from Transcarpathia,” hailed the pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet. PM Orban presented the development as a major achievement and described it as an “uplifting moment”. The two men had already appeared in a program called “Horrors of the War” on Hungary’s public television – a propaganda outlet of the government – where they praised Russia for its humane treatment of PoWs; doubts remain about how freely those interviews were given. Critical news outlet 444.hu recalled a similar episode in 2023, when Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen repatriated 11 alleged Hungarian PoWs, reportedly due to his close ties with Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, only one of them turned out to actually be ethnically Hungarian, who has since returned to Ukraine to fight against Russian forces on the front line. As in the earlier case, Ukraine was not officially informed of the operation, further increasing tensions between Budapest and Kyiv.
The election campaign is now being played out in bookstores and movie theatres. The pro-government National Resistance Movement (led by a former ballet dancer) published a comic book portraying opposition leader Peter Magyar as a two-faced criminal – one half painted in EU and Ukrainian colours; the other as a Hungarian nationalist wearing folk-art motifs. The book builds on the usual pro-government attacks against Magyar, suggesting he is paid and controlled by Manfred Weber, leader of the largest party grouping (the EPP) in the European Parliament, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and that he serves Ukrainian interests. According to the narrative, anything he says about Hungary is therefore a lie. The comic traces the roots of this alleged split personality back to 2016, when Magyar’s then-wife, Judit Varga, was appointed justice minister instead of him. According to the storyline, this led him to seek revenge. The comic also depicts several scenes portraying Magyar as a violent husband, repeating earlier accusations made by his former wife, who later had to resign in 2022 following a paedophile clemency scandal. The 64-page comic book, drawn mostly by AI, is being sold in bookstores for about 2,500 forints (around 6 euros), though it is not being prominently displayed. But an aggressive advertising campaign has already been running for weeks, with billboards and social media ads popping up regularly on Hungarian media sites. Meanwhile, a documentary about Magyar is set to premiere early next week. The film follows the opposition leader on the campaign trail and offers a behind-the-scenes look at his daily efforts to build a new political movement that has emerged as a serious challenge to Orban and his governing Fidesz party. Shot by an independent crew with no state financing, it is expected to present Magyar in a favourable light.