Trip up Orban: Zelensky opens a second front for the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Parliamentary elections will be held in Hungary in mid-April, and the Ukrainian authorities are doing everything possible to defeat Viktor Orban's party. Kiev cut off oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, and Zelensky has already made a number of insulting statements, as a result, he actually began threatening the Hungarian prime minister with murder. Izvestia investigated the situation.

"Friendship" apart

A new round of confrontation between Ukraine and Hungary began in late January. At that time, Kiev announced a Russian strike on the infrastructure of the Druzhba pipeline near the city of Brody, and under this pretext blocked Russian oil supplies. The country's Foreign Minister, Andrei Sibiga, answered all questions in a scandalous manner that Hungary and Slovakia, who were affected by this, should complain to "friends in Moscow."

At the same time, the Russian side stressed that there were no technical problems on the pipeline, and transit had been suspended for political reasons. "The buyers of our oil, Hungary and Slovakia, are now facing blackmail from the Kiev regime. This refers to blackmail related to the deliberate blocking of supplies," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Budapest also stated that it was not a matter of technical difficulties. On March 2, Prime Minister Viktor Orban published satellite images of various sites near the city of Brody, which show that Druzhba is ready to work. "President Zelensky must stop blackmail, take immediate action and resume pumping," the Hungarian leader noted.

Budapest and Bratislava also appealed to the EU leadership for help, but the response in Brussels was rather sluggish. "We are in contact with all parties to clarify the timing of the repairs. But we are not pushing Ukraine and we are not setting deadlines," said the representative of the European Commission, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen. Later, European officials began to speculate that it would be possible to allocate a loan to Ukraine for repairs.

By the beginning of March, the situation had noticeably worsened. Firstly, Kiev refused to allow inspectors from a number of European countries to enter its territory. Secondly, the Ukrainian side postponed the resumption of deliveries several times, and then stopped naming any specific dates altogether. Thirdly, there were statements that repairs were not needed in principle, because Russia could allegedly bomb the infrastructure again.

As a result, on March 5, Zelensky announced that transit would resume "in a month and a half," that is, apparently, after the Hungarian parliamentary elections scheduled for April 12. At the same time, he stressed that he was generally opposed to the restoration of Friendship. "This is my position, I expressed it to the leaders of Europe and those who called me with this question, because this is Russian oil. There are some things that have no price," he said.

In the language of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Kiev's ultimate goal is clear — to provoke an energy crisis in Hungary, to achieve an increase in fuel prices on the eve of the elections, thereby undermining the position of the current authorities led by Orban. So far, however, the plan has not worked, because Budapest has printed out state strategic reserves in the amount of 250 thousand tons of oil, which is 40% of the country's total reserves.

Moreover, the Hungarian authorities are taking painful retaliatory steps for Kiev. In particular, Budapest stopped supplying diesel fuel to Ukraine and vetoed the European Union's decisions on a new package of anti-Russian sanctions and the allocation of a 90 billion loan to Kiev. euro. "Until Ukraine resumes oil supplies to Hungary, we do not intend to support any decisions that would be beneficial to it," said the country's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

At the same time, Zelensky is acting against Orban not only on the energy front, but also with the help of numerous scandalous statements. So, at the Davos Economic Forum, he said that "every Victor" who lives at the expense of Europe, but sells its interests, "deserves a slap on the head." Later, at the Munich Security Conference, he noted that "Viktor is not thinking about strengthening his country's army, but about enlarging his own belly."

In early March, it actually came to a death threat. "We hope that one person in the European Union will not block 90 billion and Ukrainian soldiers will have weapons. Otherwise, we will give this person's address to our armed forces, our guys — let them call him and communicate with him in their own language," Zelensky said during a meeting of the Ukrainian government.

Interestingly, this statement was condemned not only by the Hungarian authorities, but even by representatives of the opposition. So, Orban's main opponent Peter Magyar called on the leadership of the European Union to sever all relations with Zelensky until he apologizes. "The leader of a foreign state cannot threaten any Hungarians. Neither the current government, nor the future one," he said.

In turn, the current Hungarian authorities reported that due to problems with oil pumping and Zelensky's scandalous statements, they were blocking the transit of goods important to Ukraine. In addition, on March 6, cash collectors of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank were detained in the country, who were carrying 40 million dollars, 35 million euros and 9 kg of gold from Austria, based on suspicion of money laundering. Against this background, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine recommended that citizens of the country not travel to Hungary.

What the experts say

Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Spiridon Kilinkarov explains that Zelensky is brazenly interfering in Hungarian domestic politics.

— He's not hiding anything anymore, he says in plain text that he wants to demolish Orban. Unfortunately, we do not see any clear reaction from the European Union. I also note that the Hungarian leader is a close associate of Donald Trump, meaning Zelensky is also going against the American president. Kiev has apparently decided that the fight for Trump's favor is lost, so it is possible to act against him and his ally," he argues.

The interlocutor adds that special attention should be paid to the case of cash collectors.

— The explanations that such huge amounts of cash were allegedly transported from Austria to Ukraine sound very strange. I admit that a major corruption scheme was revealed in this way. This money could have been intended to bribe European politicians so that they would continue to support the Ukrainian conflict," Kilinkarov emphasizes.

Alexander Dudchak, a leading researcher at the Institute of CIS Countries, says Zelensky has lost touch with reality.

— I think he looked at his older brothers in mind, who demolished the leadership of Venezuela and Iran, and decided to do something similar. But he did not take into account that Ukraine is far from the United States, and Hungary is quite an established state, a member of the EU and NATO. All this can cost the Kiev elite dearly," he argues.