The Kremlin used a secret weapon to try until the end to help its ally win the election in Budapest.
April 14, 2026, 3:11 p.mApril 14, 2026, 3:11 p.m
Ivan Ruslyannikov / ch media
In November 2010 there was an important meeting between two prime ministers: Vladimir Putin, who ceded the presidential post to Dmitri Medvedev for four years as part of a “rotation” but who in fact continued to rule Russia, and Viktor Orban, who had traveled from Hungary.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) receives his friend Viktor Orban in the Kremlin in November last year.Image: keystone
“I have already emphasized that, in our opinion, Russia is a great power from a military-political and economic perspective,” Orban said at the time. The meeting marked the beginning of a close strategic relationship.
Hungary has been an important ally of Moscow within the European Union for many years. Orban and Putin met in person regularly. The Hungarian government campaigned to lift the ban on Russian energy imports, and during the war in Ukraine, Budapest blocked decisions on granting financial support.
Hungary has also significantly increased its dependence on Russian oil since 2021, despite EU efforts to reduce these imports in connection with the war in Ukraine. This emerges from the latest report from the Center for the Study of Democracy. In 2025, the share of Russian oil in Hungarian imports was 93 percent, while in 2021 this value was 61 percent. Budapest’s dependence on Russian gas and nuclear energy also increased during this period.
In Hungary, Orban opponents demonstrated against his relations with Putin.Image: Getty Images Europe
Prigozhin’s troll factory came to the rescue
Of course, Russia would prefer to keep this window to Europe open. According to media reports, the Kremlin tried to help Orban win the 2026 elections using the legacy of former Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, namely a troll factory.
This refers to the “agency for social projecting”, whose main method is to spread fake news on behalf of major Western newspapers via a network of bots on social media. The Kremlin’s disinformation plan in Hungary was also known to the Financial Times: it included highlighting the contrast between Viktor Orban, a “strong leader with friends all over the world”, and his main rival Peter Magyar, a “puppet of Brussels”.
For Orban, Kremlin analysts recommended that he build his campaign on friendship with Donald Trump and on the idea that the US president is Hungary’s most important opportunity to ensure security and economic stability.
In March, the “troll factory” published a video on social media about an allegedly planned assassination attempt on Viktor Orban. The video, incorrectly attributed to Deutsche Welle, states that “a group of Ukrainian refugees in Hungary suffered fatal injuries when they attempted to detonate an improvised explosive device near Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s office.”
In this way, the Kremlin tried to stir up anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Hungary. Many of the fake videos were dedicated to Russia’s war against Ukraine. For example, voters were warned that Hungarian men could be drafted to fight on Ukraine’s side against Russia if Magyar won the elections.
Peter Magyar, election winner in Hungary.Image: keystone
No congratulations
The results of the Hungarian elections were received without enthusiasm in the Kremlin. “Russia’s relations with the EU cannot deteriorate further after the elections in Hungary, as things can hardly get worse,” said Putin’s press spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The Hungarian people have made their decision and Moscow respects it.
According to him, the Kremlin will not congratulate Magyar on their election victory because “this is an unfriendly country.” For his part, Peter Magyar said that Hungary was “ready for pragmatic cooperation with Russia” and would continue to purchase oil “in a cost-effective and safe way”.
Video: watson/nina bürge
The political scientist Abbas Galljamov explains in an interview with CH Media that after Magyar’s election victory, Hungary is no longer a country subject to Russia, but an equal partner: “Of course, Putin is currently not sure about Magyar, because he built his election campaign on the rejection of Orban. He was prepared to do a lot for Moscow’s benefit at the first call from the Kremlin.”
Apparently Magyar thinks in terms of domestic policy, says Galljamov: “What is advantageous for Hungary and what is not. It seems to me that this will also be his pragmatic cooperation with Russia.”
The Kremlin’s political aides may have made a key mistake in their campaign that could change their strategy for influencing elections in the future. According to Galliamov, the “troll factory” and the Kremlin’s political strategists were unable to help Viktor Orban win the election because the central messages of his campaign were based on foreign policy. Peter Magyar, on the other hand, spoke primarily about domestic political problems. These were obviously more important to the people of Hungary. (aargauerzeitung.ch)