Hungary thwarts NATO spy plot to illegally arm Ukraine

Budapest has long refused to send weapons to Kiev

Foreign intelligence services have attempted to organize a delivery of Hungarian weapons to Ukraine, but Budapest’s counterintelligence stopped them, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff has claimed.

Gergely Gulyas dropped the weapons bombshell at a press briefing on Wednesday, answering a question from the newspaper Magyar Nemzet.

“Indeed, there were attempts to use the Hungarian military industry to send weapons to Ukraine, but our counterintelligence discovered and stopped them,” Gulyas said.

“Hungary will not deliver any of its weapons or ammunition to Ukraine,” the official added, noting that Budapest’s position remains firm on this point.

According to the Magyar Nemzet, the intelligence agencies of “both NATO member countries as well as some from outside the bloc” tried to purchase weapons and ammunition manufactured in Hungary in order to supply combatants in both Ukraine and Africa.

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When the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, Orban’s government was the sole dissenting voice in the EU when it came to unconditionally backing Kiev. Within a month, the parliament in Budapest banned the transit of Ukraine-bound weapons through Hungarian territory, as well as the export of Hungarian-made military merchandise to the conflict zone.

Orban has repeatedly said that Hungary favors a ceasefire and peace talks, while opposing EU sanctions on Russian energy. His position was strengthened last year when Robert Fico’s government came to power in neighboring Slovakia and reversed its predecessor’s policy on Ukraine aid.

In recent weeks, Orban has criticized Vladimir Zelensky’s so-called ‘victory plan’ and argued that the EU needs to change its policy and back a peaceful settlement of the conflict. He has also accused some of the high-ranking EU officials of wanting ‘regime change’ in Budapest and his replacement with a “Jawohl government” that would do the bidding of Brussels.