Ukraine arrests pair for spying for Hungary
Reading Time: 6 minutesThe Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has arrested two Ukrainian military veterans in Zakarpattia, west Ukraine, on suspicion of high treason, it announced on Friday, 9 May.
Ukrainian authorities claim Hungary was collecting sensitive military data with an eye on a possible future incursion into western Ukraine. The SBU said the spy ring was run by a “staff officer of Hungarian military intelligence”.
The suspects face life imprisonment if convicted in a court. This is the first time in Ukraine’s history that a Hungarian spy network was working against Kyiv’s interests, the SBU noted.
Later in the day, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto dismissed the arrests as “propaganda” and announced the expulsion of two Ukrainian “spies working under diplomatic cover” at the Ukrainian embassy in Budapest.
Suspect recuited 2021, activated last year
The suspects arrested in Ukraine, one male and one female, are accused of working for Hungarian military intelligence to gather data on Ukraine’s military infrastructure and air defence systems, and also to assess how local ethnic Hungarian residents in western Ukraine could respond to any Hungarian military intervention.
According to the SBU, one of the suspects, a 40-year-old veteran from Berehove, west Ukraine, had been recruited as a sleeper agent in 2021 and then “activated” last year. The SBU characterised the person running the spy operation in Ukraine as “a career officer of Hungarian military intelligence”.
Ukrainian authorities claim the suspect crossed into Hungary earlier this year using medical exemption documents showing that he was transporting a sick relative to a foreign hospital for treatment, as is currently mandatory for men leaving Ukraine under martial law.
He allegedly met a Hungarian handler, and returned with cash and covert communications equipment to expand the operation. The SBU added that “by forming an agent network, foreign intelligence hoped to expand the range of information collection, including obtaining data from frontline and frontline regions.”
According to the SBU, the alleged agents were tasked by their handler to collect answers to questions such as: “What will the military and civilians in Zakarpattia do if Hungarian troops enter the region; What weapons and military equipment are available on the black market; how is the Hungarian population migrating within or out of the region; what military units are based in the area; how many transport and combat vehicles are there; how many law enforcement agencies operate in the region and how well equipped are they?”
At a second meeting between the informant and his Hungarian handler in March, the Ukrainian man was given a phone “with special software for covert communication”, the SBU added. The woman detained had also served in the armed forces and resigned from her unit this year, the SBU said. Her job allegedly was to inform the Hungarian intelligence service about Ukrainian aircraft and helicopters in the western part of the country, as well as detailed information about her former military unit. The SBU said it seized several phones and other evidence from both suspects.
The SBU also published interrogation footage and audio recordings of alleged exchanges between the suspects and their handler. Ukrainian officials said the operation aimed to map vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s western defences and understand how ethnic Hungarians might behave if Hungarian troops entered the region.
UK daily mulls implications of arrests
The Financial Times wrote that it had been unable to independently verify the information, adding that “some Hungarian analysts were sceptical that Budapest had gone as far as gathering intelligence to lay the ground for a military incursion”.
However, the UK daily noted that Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is suspected of having run a Russian disinformation operation in Europe, recently “amplified the idea of neighbouring countries taking part in a free-for-all once the war in Ukraine is over”. In February, Medvedchuk told Russian news agency TASS that “historic claims” were “justified” as “some Ukrainian territories had been artificially incorporated into modern Ukraine”, the FT recalled.
An analyst speaking on condition of anonymity told the FT that the SBU statement “seems too well documented for the Ukrainians to be bluffing”, adding that “Hungarians have aimed for this for years: Ukraine falling apart as part of a Russian strategy”, and then getting rewarded for their help with territorial gains.
Arrests spark diplomatic tit for tat
Budapest has, for around a decade, complained of discriminatory actions against the around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine. Strained bilateral relations have escalated to antipathy since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
For its part, Ukraine has accused Hungary of instrumentalising the community as an excuse to follow Russian talking points about Ukraine and the war. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also spoken out against continued sanctions on Russia and promised to block Ukraine’s EU accession route.
Szijjarto dismissed the espionage claims and announced the expulsion of two Ukrainian diplomats. “If we receive any details or official information, then we could deal with this. Until then, I must classify this as propaganda that must be handled with caution,” he said.
Hungary’s top diplomat announced later on Friday on Facebook that: “Today we have expelled two spies from Hungary working under diplomatic cover at Ukraine’s embassy in Budapest. We do not tolerate that Ukraine should continuously launch such defamatory acts against Hungary and the Hungarian people,” Szijjarto added.
Ukraine then expelled two diplomats based on reciprocity later in the day. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, writing on X on Friday, announced the action after Kyiv’s SBU security agency said it had uncovered a spy network run by the Hungarian state to obtain intelligence about its defence. “Two Hungarian diplomats must leave our country within 48 hours,” he wrote on X. “We are acting in response to Hungary’s actions, based on the principle of reciprocity and our national interests.”
Investigative journalist: Hungary spying on Ukraine not new
Many ethnic Hungarian communities in Zakarpattia reportedly favour Hungarian state media, such as the M1 news channel, which often broadcasts content critical of Ukraine and supportive of Russia, deepening concerns in Kyiv about Hungarian influence in the region.
The espionage allegations also raise questions about Hungary’s role within NATO, of which Hungary has been a member since 1999. In the wake of the arrests and tit for tat expulsions, Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi wrote on Facebook that Budapest’s intelligence services have been prioritising surveillance of Ukraine over Russia, to the bemusement of NATO officers. Panyi cited NATO officials expressing concern that Hungary’s intelligence activities undermine the alliance’s collective focus on deterring Russian aggression.
In a post entitled “Hungary is spying on Ukraine is not new – our NATO allies have known this for a long time, even more than us”, Panyi wrote that the day before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Hungarian military intelligence had assessed that any conflict would likely remain confined to eastern Ukraine. The next day, Russia attacked Ukraine across multiple fronts, including Kyiv.
“Back in the second half of 2023 two national security officers working for EU/NATO countries told me that while most countries primarily share information about Russia during the intelligence cooperation within the Western federal system, Hungary is not doing this.
“Based on what the Hungarian secret services throw into the “common”, it was already clear to NATO allies that Hungarians focus on civil and military intelligence a little different than they do: they share relatively a lot of information collected about Ukraine with their allies. So, while almost everyone tried to collect information about the aggressor Russia and share it with partners, Hungarians instead spied on the attacked Ukraine,” Panyi recalled.
Opposition leader leaks audio of minister backing remilitarisation
In a separate development, a leaked recording released by opposition party Tisza leader Peter Magyar revealed Hungarian Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky saying the government has decided to build a “combat-ready” army. The recording contradicts Hungary’s public “pro-Peace” stance about pursuing peace and has fuelled domestic criticism that the government is preparing for a more assertive military posture.
“Orban and his people have been deceiving Hungarians about standing for peace, but it has now become clear that they would drag our wonderful country into war,” Magyar said, commenting on the recording. Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi
While the Orban government has never endorsed territorial claims, Hungarian far-right party Mi Hazank (Our Homeland) has called for Zakarpattia to become a Hungarian protectorate in the event of Ukraine’s collapse. Party leader Laszlo Toroczkai said he would promote a referendum in Zakarpattia to become a Hungarian “protectorate”. Russian state television channels such as Rossiya 1 have amplified these claims, portraying Ukraine as a failing state that will eventually be partitioned.
Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Levente Magyar cancelled talks scheduled for Monday, May 12, on the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region, saying the arrests had undermined conditions for good-faith, constructive negotiations.
Magyar wrote on Facebook on Sunday that he had held talks with Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna in Budapest on April 29, but Monday’s talks would not take place.
“The fact that on Friday a ‘preventive action’ was carried out in Transcarpathia based on espionage charges, which the Ukrainian side immediately presented to a wide media audience – all three days before the decisive meeting – calls into question the sincerity of the intention to resolve the open issues,” Magyar wrote.