Tag Archives: Oroszország

Russians demand their money in Hungary’s controversial golden visa scheme

Panyi Szabolcs, Marton Kamilla 2023.03.21.

Lawyers of bondholders told Direkt36 that hundreds of thousands of euros were stuck with the intermediary company VolDan. Meanwhile, the company’s Hungarian representative office has become unavailable, and the company is under a compulsory strike off procedure from the official registry of companies.

“We need to pressure” the Hungarians – Leaked documents reveal collapse of Russian-led bank in Budapest

Panyi Szabolcs, Szabó András, Wirth Zsuzsanna, Marton Kamilla, Pethő András 2023.03.13.

Internal documents obtained by Direkt36 reveal that the Hungarian government has become one of the strongest backers of the Russian-dominated International Investment Bank, which was brought to the brink of collapse by the war against Ukraine.

Russian spy chief’s son has a Budapest home address. In the company property of an old friend of Orbán’s chief of staff

Panyi Szabolcs 2022.11.10.

Official document shows that Andrey Naryshkin, who acquired residency permit in the Hungarian golden visa scheme, had his registered home address in a property owned by pro-government businessman Shabtai Michaeli’s company just a few months ago. According to the government, Naryshkin’s residency permit was revoked by the counterintelligence service two years ago, but the case was stalled in court.

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.

Orbán government keeps silent about Russian residency bond owners – even as the EU prepares to end the practice

Matyasovszki Fanni, Szőke Dániel 2022.06.14.

Fidesz MEPs did not vote for the revision of the visas already issued. Several beneficiaries of Putin’s regime have previously obtained Hungarian papers.

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.

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.

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”.

U.S. is still trying to push out the Russian-led bank from Hungary

Panyi Szabolcs 2019.12.21. 3 Comments

American and British diplomacy are upset that the International Investment Bank has relocated its headquarters to Budapest. The bank’s employees were supposed to receive wide diplomatic immunities, but the Orban government seems to be backtracking on issuing them.

Viktor Orban promised something to Vladimir Putin, but the U.S. intervened

Panyi Szabolcs 2019.10.30.

Hungary’s government promised diplomatic immunities to the Russian-led, now Budapest-based International Investment Bank, but U.S. diplomacy had concerns over the bank’s alleged ties to Russian intelligence.

Both Russian arms dealers Hungary extradited to Moscow instead of the U.S. now set free

Panyi Szabolcs 2019.09.06.

Vladimir Lyubishin Sr. was released after a Moscow court hearing. The arms dealer was arrested in a joint operation by Hungarian and U.S. authorities, but Hungary’s government extradited him to Russia. According to his lawyer, Lyubishin is very happy and can’t wait to travel somewhere with a spa and sauna.

Orban promises the U.S. counterintelligence measures against a Russian-led bank

Panyi Szabolcs 2019.08.14.

Viktor Orban has secretly promised many things to the U.S. government because they were worried about the Russian-led International Investment Bank’s (IIB) moving to Budapest. Meanwhile, the Hungarian government is trying to reassure U.S. congressmen that everything is OK with the IIB, although many find the bank suspicious.

Russian-led bank rapidly gearing up in Budapest amid EU and U.S. worries

Panyi Szabolcs, Szabó András 2019.04.25. 2 Comments

Nothing can stop the relocation of International Investment Bank, a former Soviet bank that was revived by Russian president Vladimir Putin a few years ago, to Budapest. Meanwhile, Hungary appoints a new director who has been accused of working for the Communist secret service.

How we exposed a secret conflict involving Russia, the United States, and Hungary

Panyi Szabolcs 2019.03.24. 1 Comment

How we did our investigation into a story about two Russian arms dealers who were arrested in Hungary as the result of a US-led sting operation, and about how the Hungarian government extradited the two Russians to Moscow, infuriating the Americans.

Russian arms dealer busted by U.S. agents in Hungary now out of jail after extradition

Panyi Szabolcs 2019.03.07. 2 Comments

Vladimir Lyubishin Jr. has been released from prison in February. The U.S. fears that the Russian arms dealers will avoid justice after being extradited to Russia.

Russian diplomats caught spying in Hungary get expelled quietly as usual

Panyi Szabolcs 2018.12.20.

Russian intelligence organizes some of their Balkans operations from Hungary, but despite close Russian-Hungarian relations they can not always avoid retaliation. In 2016, the Military National Security Service exposed a GRU officer. Although Hungary’s government never informed the public, approximately ten Russian spies have been busted since 2010.

Lord of War in Budapest: The DEA busted two Russian arms dealers and Hungary extradited them to Moscow

Panyi Szabolcs 2018.11.23. 5 Comments

The extradition controversy further increased the tension between the United States and the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Viktor Orban’s government has become an enthusiastic partner in Russia’s financial expansion

Szabó András 2018.09.03.

Vladimir Putin resurrected the International Investment Bank a few years ago to increase Russia’s influence in Central and Eastern Europe. Hungary has become one of the most active investors of the financial institution.

Direkt36 is a non-profit investigative journalism center with the mission to hold powerful people and institutions accountable.