Photo: EPA
Vladimir Putin approved a plan developed by the sanctioned Russian company Agency for Social Design to discredit Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar and support the ruling party of Viktor Orbán, according to Financial Times.
The Kremlin reportedly launched a disinformation campaign aimed at helping Orbán secure re-election in Hungary. The plan involves flooding social media with narratives written in Russia and distributed by influential Hungarian figures to promote Orbán’s party Fidesz.
According to the proposal presented to the Kremlin late last year, the campaign portrays Orbán as the only leader capable of protecting Hungary’s sovereignty and standing on equal footing with global leaders. At the same time, it seeks to frame Magyar — leader of the opposition party Tisza Party — as a “Brussels puppet” without international backing.
The strategy includes information attacks against Magyar, whose party currently leads in opinion polls. The goal is to depict Tisza as an incompetent political force with internal divisions and hidden agendas, while portraying its leader as dependent on the European Union.
Investigative outlet VSquare recently reported that three officers from Russia’s military intelligence service, GRU, were assigned to the Russian embassy in Budapest.
Sources cited by the Financial Times say the operation may be coordinated by Sergei Kiriyenko, the first deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, who previously oversaw similar influence campaigns abroad.
At the same time, the campaign appears designed to avoid direct links between Moscow and Orbán, since open Russian support could backfire politically. Instead, the strategy focuses on content such as memes, videos, and infographics created in Russia but adapted for Hungarian audiences and spread through local intermediaries.
The campaign also attempts to present Orbán as a key partner of Donald Trump, highlighting their personal ties and suggesting that the U.S. president represents Hungary’s best hope for security and economic stability.
Russia denies any interference. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the allegations are based on “fake information,” while the Hungarian government also rejected claims of Russian involvement.
Meanwhile, tensions between Hungary and Ukraine continue to escalate amid disputes over energy supplies through the Druzhba pipeline and Hungary’s opposition to EU financial support and membership prospects for Ukraine.
