Nick Thorpe
Central Europe correspondent
SBU
Ukraine said it discovered Hungarian spy network earlier this month
In the midst of arrests, diplomatic expulsion and public humiliation, ties between war-torn Ukraine and its thorny NATO neighbour Hungary have entered a new low.
At the heart of the line is accusations that Hungarian Victor Orban’s Fides government is using SPAT to fight his main political rival, the opposition Tiss party, which led to the poll ahead of the 2026 election.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian SBU Security Services announced the arrest of two Ukrainian citizens accused of spying on Hungary.
According to allegations supported by video and audio evidence, the men and women were paying for Hungarian military information, preparing for Hungarian military action in Ukraine.
Hungary then expelled two Ukrainian diplomats, and Ukraine filed a lawsuit for a tough response, which has already further damaged its sour relationship. Hungary also arrested Ukrainian citizens and accused him of spying.
Orban is widely viewed as Russia’s closest ally in the European Union, and his government was defeated by European partners by maintaining trade and opposition sanctions against Russia, allowing the transport of arms, and refusing to compare Ukraine to Afghanistan.
Now he accuses Kiev of trying to “addict” his country.
All 8 million Hungarian households recently received a survey from the government called “VOX 2025” and invited Ukraine to refuse EU membership.
A year ago, Orban presented himself as the only person on earth other than the Pope, who was trying to secure an unconditional ceasefire.
However, his critics portrayed the so-called mission of peace to Kiev, Moscow and other capitals in an attempt to reward Russian invasions.
The day after Orban met Russian Vladimir Putin, the Russian missiles attacked Omatdoit Children’s Hospital in Kiev.
Three days later, Peter Magar, the leader of the Hungarian Tisa Party, brought $40,000 in Hungarian medical aid to the hospital. Polls suggest that Magyall could drive Orban out of power next April.
Roland Zeber, the man who drove Tissa’s leader to Kiev, is the target of Fides, who tries to betray Hungary and blame the Hungarian opposition.
Roland Zeber
Roland Tseber(R) drove Peter Magyar(L) to Kyiv in July 2024 after Russian attack on the capital
Roland Tseber met him as a fresh, hardworking politician when he met him in the Ukrainian Refugee Centre in Uzhorod in April.
He has supported the distribution of medical aid from Hungary and has worked with Hungarian doctors and psychologists who have supported Ukrainians who have internally evacuated from the Eastern War Zone since 2022.
His troubles began within weeks of Peter Magyaru’s visit, he told me.
In August he heard that he was banned from Hungary and by Hungarian claims from the entire Schengen zone of the EU without explanation.
Mr. Tseber’s letter to the Hungarian embassy in Kiev was not answered.
Leader of Rasillo Trotzkay, the hometown of the Hungarian Parliament, named him a “terrorist.” Mate Koxis, the leader of the Hungarian Parliament’s Fidetic faction, has long been seeking Hungarian anti-intelligence, calling him a “Ukrainian spy.”
“I reject all such accusations that try to connect me to all kinds of intelligence reporting activities. This is ridiculous. I am a transcarpathian politician who works honestly and openly for the benefit of my hometown and Hungary,” Tseber told me in a telephone interview.
Despite Orban’s stance, the Hungarians sent medical assistance to Ukraine
As an elected independent councillor of the Transcarpathian Regional Parliament, who sits in the political group of Ukrainian President Voldimi Zelensky’s People’s Party servants, he says, he meets politicians of all shades.
“I’m a Ukrainian politician and I’ll meet everyone. The whole situation is ridiculous. They want to drag me into this spy story.
The weakest connection to the Hungarian government’s story is that if he had truly been on the radar of the Hungarian intelligence agency, then the government politicians and Peter Magar as members of the European Parliament would have been warned to leave him.
The Hungarian community, a declining transcarpathian, is becoming a secondary damage to Ukraine-Hungarian queues.
The last census in Ukraine in 2001 had a population of 150,000, but the latest estimates suggest that the number has reached between 70 and 80,000. Dozens have lost their lives and are fighting for Ukraine against Russia.
Another twist in the story is that former Hungarian staff chief Romulus Rasin Shendy, now a well-known Tish party politician, is attacked by government-controlled media.
The government alleges that “former senior figure in the defense sector” – a clear reference to the Russin Zendi language – had been in contact with Ukrainian intelligence agency.
Ruszin-Szendi fought back by insisting on a smear campaign. “I am a decent Hungarian citizen who has been wearing uniforms since I was 14. I am shocked and sad to learn that what I and my comrades have done for our country is extremely valuable to you,” he spoke to the government on Facebook.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Victor Orban has portrayed himself as a man of peace, winning the April 2022 election with a promise to keep Hungary out of the war in Ukraine.
But the 2023 speech, just leaked by Peter Magyall, tells a very different story.
Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky was recorded as a year after the war in Ukraine began, when the government decided to break the peace mentality and move to “zero road to war.”
This was the same year that many experienced Atlanticists, such as Russin Shendy, were fired as part of the military’s “rejuvenation.”
They were replaced by officers who were loyal to the pro-Moscow stance of the government.
