The Pro-European Government of Hungary today announced the expulsion of ten members from the Russian diplomatic mission due to “unacceptable activities”, while Russia promised a severe and painful response.
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08/09/2026
by
Lusa
“Ten Russian mission officials carried out activities in Hungary that, according to the Vienna Convention, are unacceptable for diplomats”, said Foreign Minister Anita Orbán.
“ The Hungarian side therefore ordered the individuals concerned to leave Hungarian territory.”, he added.
This is the first expulsion since 2018, in a country that previously demonstrated a pro-Russia stance under the leadership of nationalist Viktor Orbán.
The minister did not specify the nature of the activities for which the individuals were accused.
Russia reacted quickly through the Foreign Ministry.
“ The response to the Russian ‘lobby’ in Budapest will be severe and painful,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakhrova to the Russian official news agency TASS.
In March 2018, as part of the action coordinated by Western countries following the poisoning in the United Kingdom of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia, Hungary expelled a Russian diplomat whom the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered an intelligence officer.
However, the VSquare news portal reported in May, citing several anonymous government sources, that a Russian diplomat suspected of espionage and his wife had been discreetly expelled a few days earlier.
After 2022, Hungary, a member of the European Union, but which maintained close ties with the Kremlin despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine, did not adhere to the mass expulsions of Russian diplomats decided by several European countries.
Since Viktor Orbán's defeat in the April parliamentary elections, the new Hungarian Prime Minister, Peter Magyar, has worked to strengthen ties with EU partners.