MOSCOW: Russia has ordered Hungarian diplomats to leave the country, escalating a dispute that marks a sharp break from the era of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who kept closer ties with Moscow than any other EU leader.
The move comes weeks after Budapest expelled 10 Russian diplomats on national security grounds in September, the first such action by Hungary since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Hungary’s chargé d’affaires, Gábor Gergics, was summoned to Russia’s foreign ministry and told that staff from the Hungarian embassy in Moscow and consulates in St Petersburg and Kazan must depart within two weeks, as reported by Euro News.
Moscow called Hungary’s original expulsion “baseless and openly unfriendly”. Budapest said it regretted the escalation but stood by its decision. “Hungary is not interested in an escalation of diplomatic tensions. But we stand by our decision, taken on national security grounds,” the foreign ministry wrote on X, adding that its missions in Russia would continue to operate.
Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said the Russian diplomats had been engaged in activities “unacceptable for diplomats under the Vienna Convention”.
The exchange follows a shift in Hungarian foreign policy since Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office earlier this year. In August, the new government instructed its UN delegation to describe Russia as a threat to Hungary and the global order, condemned its war in Ukraine and affirmed support for Ukrainian sovereignty.
Hungary is also trying to improve relations with Kyiv, though it is blocking new EU accession talks with Ukraine to secure concessions on the rights of Hungary’s ethnic minority there.
