Hungary detains Ukrainians carrying $82 million in cash and gold; Kyiv calls it a hostage-taking

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has maintained close relations with the Kremlin while escalating an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign ahead of crucial elections next month, has called Ukraine Hungary’s “enemy,” and accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of seeking to provoke an energy crisis in order to sway the April 12 vote.

Orbán did not directly mention the detention of the bank vehicles but alluded to the incident in statements to state radio Friday, saying: “We will stop things that are important to Ukraine passing through Hungary until we get the approval of the Ukrainians for oil shipments.”

“The Ukrainians will run out of money sooner than we will run out of oil,” he added.

Trailing in most polls behind a popular center-right challenger, the populist Orbán has staked the election on convincing voters that Ukraine poses an existential threat to Hungary’s security.

In office since 2010, the EU’s longest-serving leader has claimed that if he loses the election, the European Union will force Hungary into bankruptcy by cutting Russian energy imports, and that Hungarian youth will be sent to their deaths on the front lines in Ukraine.

Hungary, along with neighboring Slovakia, have defied EU efforts to wean off Russian fossil fuels, and continued to purchase them despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Orbán previously ceased diesel shipments to Ukraine, vetoed a new round of EU sanctions against Russia and blocked a major, 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) loan for Kyiv in retaliation for the interruption in oil shipments. He’s also deployed military forces to key energy infrastructure sites across Hungary, accusing Ukraine of plotting disruptions.

On Thursday, Orbán told an economic forum that Hungary would use “force,” including “political and financial tools,” to compel Ukraine to resume oil shipments.

On his post on X, the Ukrainian foreign minister took issue with Orbán’s comments, writing: “If this is the ‘force’ announced earlier today by Mr. Orban, then this is a force of a criminal gang,” Sybiha wrote.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Friday urged Ukrainian citizens to abstain from visiting Hungary, saying their security could not be guaranteed amid “arbitrary actions by the Hungarian authorities.”

The Ministry also called for Ukrainian and European businesses to take into account “the risk of arbitrary seizure of property” in Hungary.