Category Archives: Magyar külpolitika

How Viktor Orbán decided to arm Hungary

Galavits Patrik 2023.01.10.

Hungary launched a major military development program seven years ago. The prime minister has used it to strengthen his international relationships and also realised the usefulness of the military in domestic politics.

Hungary’s diplomats with controversial backgrounds caught up in an investigation by international journalists

Wirth Zsuzsanna, Marton Kamilla 2022.11.15.

Direkt36 has been part of the “Shadow Diplomats” project, an investigation into the murky world of honorary consuls, led by ICIJ and ProPublica. We found that Hungary is represented by honorary consuls who are accused of crimes such as financing terrorism.

Szexuális bűnözők, drogdílerek, gyilkosok is megbújnak a világ tiszteletbeli konzuljai között

Direkt36 2022.11.15.

Az Árnyék Diplomaták nevű nyomozó újságíró projekt több mint 500, bűncselekményben vagy kétes ügyben érintett tiszteletbeli konzult számolt össze világszerte.

Western allies puzzled by Hungary’s mild reaction to Russian hacking

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.07.14.

Russia’s hacking of the Hungarian foreign ministry is a concern for the EU, and the U.S. has already warned Hungary and other allies about the dangers of Russian cyberattacks. The Orbán government could in principle ask for EU help to tackle the problem, but there is no sign so far that it will do so.

Cables show how Orbán’s diplomats gather information on journalists

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.06.09.

The information contained in these documents was gathered by diplomats of the Orbán government from social media profiles of journalists or online reports, as well as by inquiring foreign government officials.

Putin’s hackers gained full access to Hungary’s foreign ministry networks, the Orbán government has been unable to stop them

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.03.29.

Russian state actors hacked into the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s computer network compromising internal correspondence and even a secure network that transmits classified information. The recurring cyberattacks over the past decade were kept quiet by the Orbán government, and have not been successfully countered. With the help of internal documents and background interviews, Direkt36 exposes Russian cyber espionage against Hungary’s MFA.

Spies, business deals and criminals. How Orbán favors Russian interests instead of Western ones

Panyi Szabolcs, Szabó András 2022.03.01.

In the past 12 years, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government has gotten into a situation many times, when they had to decide between the interests of Western allies, or Russia. Direkt36 has revealed many cases, where, in the end, the government favored Vladimir Putin and his circles. It occurred, for example, that they drove a Hungarian company out of business, just to be able to make space for a Russian firm.

Orbánék leszerződtették a Pegasus kémszoftver gyártójának korábbi lobbistáját

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.01.24.

Egy olyan washingtoni lobbistát szerződtetett 2021 végén a magyar kormány, aki egészen odáig az okostelefonok feltörésére alkalmas Pegasus kémszoftvert kifejlesztő izraeli cégnek dolgozott

Orbán’s government tried to hide sensitive information on €1.5B Chinese university project

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.09.24.

Although Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government published its plans for the taxpayer funded Fudan Hungary University, it censored all politically sensitive and explosive information from the documents.

To please China, Orbán’s government shifted plans to favor Fudan’s campus over Student City

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.05.14.

An internal conflict erupted in Hungary’s government as the Budapest Student City project, designed for low-income Hungarian university students, was scrapped in favor of a Chinese private university for wealthy foreigners. Direkt36 also acquired Fudan Hungary University’s financial projections.

Huge Chinese loan to cover the construction of Fudan University in Budapest

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.04.06.

Chinese workers will construct Fudan’s Budapest campus using Chinese building materials, all covered by a Chinese loan, but the Hungarian state is the one paying the huge bill. Fudan University has already picked a contractor: state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation, a company embroiled in suspicions of corruption and espionage in several countries around the world.

Chinese spy games in Orbán’s Hungary

Panyi Szabolcs 2021.03.15. 4 Comments

The policy of ’Eastern Opening’ set out by Viktor Orbán in hope of tons of Chinese money never actually resulted in momentous Chinese investments. The China-friendly environment in Hungary, on the other hand, came in handy for Chinese intelligence. Direkt36 presents the hidden history of Hungarian-Chinese relations.

A fugitive wanted for murder became a businessman in Budapest under false identity

Zöldi Blanka 2021.02.01. 10 Comments

Haris Ahmed has escaped from Bangladesh, where his brother currently serves as Army Chief. The man had been on the Interpol’s Red Notice list for years, now he is using his connections at home to enrich himself in Europe.

How Orban played Germany, Europe’s great power

Panyi Szabolcs 2020.09.18. 15 Comments

Why isn’t Germany tougher with the Hungarian government? Viktor Orbán has been building his alliances for decades through personal friendships, political gimmicks and pouring hundreds of billions of forints on German corporations. Direkt36 explored in detail the hidden history of Hungarian-German relations.

Huawei is slowly pushed out from European 5G networks but the Orban government still supports them

Panyi Szabolcs 2020.07.03.

5G rollout has finally started in Hungary during the pandemic. Telenor, the partly state-owned mobile operator could be the lifeline for the beleaguered Chinese company.

“Mr. Russia” is now helping Viktor Orbán’s government to nurture German relations

Szabó András 2020.06.26.

Klaus Mangold, an influential German businessman with links to the European and Russian business elites has been advising the Orbán-government for many years. His consultancy contracts obtained by Direkt36 show that Mangold has been recently focusing on deepening Hungarian-German industrial relations.

People close to Orban’s advisor appear in controversial Russia-connected megaproject

Szabó András 2020.05.15. 3 Comments

Preparations for a megaproject in which a Russian-Hungarian company will supply 1300 rail cars to Egypt seem to have accelerated. Simultaneously, people close to Arpad Habony, the PM’s chief advisor, and Zsolt Hernadi, CEO of MOL have appeared inside the firm which co-owns the winning company.

How once cherished Iranians became coronavirus scapegoats in Orban’s Hungary

Panyi Szabolcs 2020.04.02. 1 Comment

Hungary saw great business opportunities in Iran and the Orban government tried to strenghten relations through university scholarships and residence permits. Then the course of world politics and the coronavirus changed everything.

Orbán’s media machine in the Balkans investigated for suspicious transactions

Zöldi Blanka, Szabó András 2020.02.28.

A Hungarian businessman close to the government has expanded his media empire to the Balkans. However, a high-value contract between his Slovenian and North Macedonian companies raised the attention of local authorities.

Hungary pressured by diplomats to stop blocking NATO-Ukraine talks

Panyi Szabolcs 2020.02.13. 7 Comments

There is growing pressure on Hungary’s government to stop blocking high-level Ukraine-NATO meetings. They are accused of doing a favor to Russia, while Hungary says “we’re not blocking just for fun”.