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.
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Spies, business deals and criminals. How Orbán favors Russian interests instead of Western ones
How Russians got a second chance at lucrative rail deal from Hungary
A Russian company lobbied heavily against the €550m procurement of rail cars as they were unable to enter the competition. Then Hungary’s government suddenly canceled and restarted the bidding process.
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People close to Orban’s advisor appear in controversial Russia-connected megaproject
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.
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The Russians are poised to benefit from international deal financed by Hungary
In addition to the Russians, several government-close people are also watching closely the project developments. The business partner of Árpád Habony has appeared in the company that signed the contract. The investment is likely to come up at the Orbán-Putin meeting.
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