Russian intelligence agency plans fake attack on Orbán to influence election result – WP

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service has proposed staging an assassination attempt on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in order to improve his showing in the parliamentary election in April.

Source: The Washington Post with reference to information from a European intelligence service, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The Washington Post reported that last month a unit from Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, SVR, had raised alarm over a sharp drop in public support for Viktor Orbán ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election.

An internal report by Russian operatives, obtained by the European intelligence service, said it is necessary to implement a strategy capable of "fundamentally alter the entire paradigm of the election campaign" by organising an "assassination attempt" on Orban.

"Such an incident will shift the perception of the campaign out of the rational realm of socioeconomic questions into an emotional one, where the key themes will become state security and the stability and defence of the political system," the report for the SVR's main unit for political influence operations, Directorate MS, or Active Measures Department said.

There have been no physical attacks on Orbán so far. The facts presented, however, show how high the stakes are for Russia in the Hungarian election, The Washington Post says.

Orbán's spokesman Zoltán Kovács did not respond to a request for comment on the SVR report, Russia's possible election interference or the prime minister's ties with Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed the information about the report is "disinformation".

In recent weeks, Orbán and his Fidesz party have increasingly tried to shift Hungarians' attention away from economic problems and towards supposed external security threats. These include the suspension of Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, for which Budapest blames Ukraine, as well as alleged threats from Kyiv against the prime minister.

Background:

• On 19 March, the Hungarian government decided to ban three Ukrainian citizens – two military servicemen and a political analyst – from entering Hungary and the Schengen area for allegedly making threats against Orbán.
• Earlier, investigative journalists from VSquare established that an operation to seize Ukrainian cash-in-transit guards and assets belonging to Oschadbank on 5 March was planned by Hungarian intelligence services to provoke a confrontation with Ukraine ahead of Hungary's parliamentary elections.
• Before that, VSquare reported that Russia had sent a group of political strategists to Hungary, operating out of the Russian embassy in Budapest, to conduct a disinformation campaign in support of Viktor Orbán.

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