The Budapest Chief Prosecutor’s Office has filed a motion for the arrest of a Ukrainian man suspected of espionage to prevent him from fleeing abroad and destroying evidence.
A ruling is expected today on the requested warrant.
According to Magyar Nemzet, the man is suspected of working on behalf of Ukrainian military intelligence, tasked with carrying out data collection and information gathering in Hungary.
The National Security Committee met last week to discuss the issue of Ukrainian spies on the ground in Hungary. Máté Kocsis, leader of the Fidesz group in Hungary’s National Assembly, told the press that “Hungarian services have long been aware of intensive counter-intelligence activities on the part of Ukrainian services,” although this does not explain why action was only taken now.
Koscis named three Ukrainians who were expelled from Hungary for publishing sensitive information without prior consultation: Yuroj Kenychi, Dmytro Kisfalusi, and Serhiy Alexandrov.
Since then, the National Security Committee has met again, with Kocsis, telling the press that new reports had been requested on the roles of Roland Tseber and István Holló in Hungary.
“Roland Tseber, who was a Ukrainian-Hungarian citizen until 2017, renounced his Hungarian citizenship, justified by his political ambitions in Ukraine. He is currently a representative of the Transcarpathian County Council, who has been under surveillance by Hungarian national security agencies for a long time, and identified as an illegal officer of the Ukrainian intelligence service,” he said.
They believe Roland, who seeks to change Hungary’s stance on the war in Ukraine, “has probably been building contacts with members of the Hungarian opposition for many years, meeting with several leading politicians and parliamentary party representatives.” He also helped to organize a visit for opposition politicians to Ukraine and sought a meeting with Péter Szijjártó, who sent his deputy, Levente Magyar. After warnings from counterintelligence, no further meetings took place.
“But what is more important, and the information that poses a greater risk to national security, is that Tseber organized a meeting with the former high-ranking leader of the domestic military leadership, actors involved in arms production, and foreign investors,” Koscis said. This is why Hungary imposed an entry and residence ban on Roland Tseber.
“The other person, István Holló, a Ukrainian citizen, has never been a Hungarian citizen and has been in the sights of Hungarian counter-terrorism for a very long time. The man was placed in pre-trial detention by the immigration police on May 9, with the assistance of TEK. However, following the criminal complaint filed against Holló by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the National Bureau of Investigation is now conducting proceedings against him on suspicion of the crime of espionage,” he said.
Holló allegedly worked in cooperation with Ukrainian military intelligence to learn about Hungary’s army and energy system. “Numerous relevant individuals in the Ukrainian intelligence service and the Hungarian defense and energy sectors have been identified in his network of contacts,” he noted.
Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, the former chief of staff of Hungary’s armed forces, denies being involved in any spy network but has now joined the opposition Tisza Party, which is known for its pro-Ukraine stance. Ruszin-Szendi further asked, according to Telex, if he had been under suspicion for working against Hungary for the past two years, then why were proceedings never initiated against him until now.
One explanation, however, could be that Hungarian services were collecting intelligence during that time without alerting their target that they knew he was being watched.
Péter Magyar, leader of Tisza, has also been implicated in the spy ring, with photos emerging of him with Roland Tseber. Magyar says the photo was taken on a trip to bring aid to a children’s hospital in Ukraine and that Szijjártó’s deputy, Levente Magyar, also had an official photo taken with him after his meeting with Tseber, but Levente claims he had not yet received any warning about him.
Péter Magyar continues to be a thorn in the side of Fidesz, with things escalating back on May 9, when his party released an audio recording of Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky speaking in April 2023, more than a year after the start of the war. The opposition has made baseless claims that PM Orbán had expected Putin to declare victory far sooner, paving the way for Hungary to move in on territories of “Old Hungary” in western Ukraine, still home to large populations of ethnic Hungarians. In the recording, Szalay-Bobrovniczky said he is “building an army ready and capable of defending Hungary with arms, because peace requires strength.”
In the wake of this leak, two Hungarians were arrested by Ukraine on charges of espionage, and Hungary then expelled the Ukrainian diplomats noted above.
Nevertheless, the recording in question may have also been taken out of context. Back in March 2023, just prior to this recording, Szalay-Bobrovniczky spoke at the initial operational capability ceremony of Hungary’s Headquarters Multinational Division Centre (HQ MND-C), noting the significance of the center to protect all of Europe due to Russia’s aggression and the vulnerability of NATO’s eastern front. He also proudly cited a survey showing that Hungarians supported NATO 7 percent more than the average level of support across the alliance.
A recent release from NATO this past February announced the full operational capability of this center in Székesfehérvár. “Since its activation on May 3, 2022, HQ MND-C has played a crucial role in integrating NATO-assigned forces and capabilities into a higher tactical unit. This command element is designed to lead Multinational forces across the full spectrum of land operations, ensuring both Allied and regional security,” it reads.
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