Hungarian opposition leader accuses Russia of election interference
Photo: Russia echoed Orban’s claim that Magyar is a puppet of the European Commission (Getty Images)
Leader of Hungary’s opposition Tisza party Peter Magyar accused Russia of interfering in the elections and using intelligence to undermine his campaign against Prime Minister Viktor Orban, according to Bloomberg.
On the eve of the vote, Russia’s foreign intelligence service issued a statement repeating remarks often used by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to discredit Peter Magyar, portraying him as a puppet of the European Commission.
Russian accusations against Magyar were also echoed by Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who called the statement published in Moscow "nothing new."
In response, the opposition leader accused the Kremlin of election interference.
"After 34 years, Russia again wants to directly meddle in Hungarian politics, again it wants to unabashedly influence the decision of Hungarian voters," Magyar said in a Facebook post, referring to the departure of Soviet troops from Hungary in the early 1990s.
Bloomberg notes that Orban has taken a defensive stance against Magyar’s Tisza party, which is polling in the double digits. The elections in Hungary are scheduled for April next year.
Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto accused the European Union of seeking to topple the governments of three countries, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia.
Russia is trying to influence parliamentary elections in Moldova in an attempt to maintain levers of control and derail the country’s European integration.
