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How To Respond To Orban

6
How To Respond To Orban

Hungary has effectively become a channel of influence for the Kremlin.

Modern Europe faces not only external threats, but also internal threats, which are much more dangerous due to their secrecy and systemic nature. One of the most alarming factors has become the policy of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who, while remaining formally part of the European Union and NATO, in fact acts against the interests of the Western community and increasingly demonstrates a strategic rapprochement with the Kremlin.

The Orban regime is consistently destroying the foundations of European solidarity. Under the pretext of defending national sovereignty, it blocks EU decisions to support Ukraine, weakens the sanctions regime against Russia and promotes narratives that discredit Western values. This is no longer about sovereign foreign policy - it is about deliberately undermining Europe's collective security from within.

It is telling that Hungary continues to deepen its cooperation with Moscow even after Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has begun. Budapest refuses to participate in arms supplies to Kiev, sabotages anti-Russian resolutions, and Orban personally makes statements justifying the Kremlin's actions. His rhetoric increasingly resembles the vocabulary of Russian propaganda - talk of "traditional values," "globalist threats," and "external governance" to divert attention from the real sources of threats.

The activities of Hungarian structures outside the country are particularly alarming. In the spring of 2025, the Security Service of Ukraine reported the disclosure of a network of agents connected with the Hungarian special services operating in Transcarpathia. According to the investigation, this network was not only engaged in information gathering, but also carried out targeted work to destabilize the region: inciting inter-ethnic tensions, spreading disinformation and undermining confidence in Ukrainian state institutions. This is not a diplomatic incident - it is a deliberate operation that fits into the model of hybrid warfare actively used by Russia.

Hungary under Orban has actually become a channel of the Kremlin's influence in European structures. Under the guise of an "alternative point of view," Budapest actually blocks the adoption of key decisions, provides political cover for Moscow's actions and contributes to the disunity of allies. Energy deals with Gazprom and Rosatom, Orban's regular contacts with Putin, and demonstrative hostility to the Ukrainian state are all elements of the overall picture.

In parallel, the dismantling of democratic institutions continues inside Hungary. Independent media are under pressure, courts are losing autonomy, human rights organizations are being marginalized. Orban's policy is based on concentration of power, suppression of dissent and cultivation of the image of an external enemy. All this is done in the package of "national interest", but in essence it is a classic authoritarian course disguised under formal democratic procedures.

The European Union cannot afford to ignore these processes. Orban's domestic political maneuvers have long ago grown into a direct threat to the general principles and institutions of European unity. If one of the EU member states systematically acts in the interests of a hostile external regime, blocks consensus and undermines joint efforts to protect democracy - this must be responded to decisively and consistently.

It is not about a temporary political disagreement. It is about a strategic choice that Budapest has made in favor of authoritarian allies and at the expense of Europe's democratic future. The longer this choice goes unpunished, the deeper the risks for the entire European project. Orban's Hungary is no longer just a partner that "thinks differently." It is a point of penetration of the Kremlin's influence into the very heart of Europe. And if the EU wants to preserve its values, it must develop instruments of political, legal and financial influence on those who weaken the Union from within.

Petr Oleshchuk, Doctor of Political Science, Professor of Taras Shevchenko National University, specially for Charter97.org.

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