Key actors — tap for context
Anita Orbán
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister since May 2026, member of parliament for the TISZA party. An economist and diplomat, she served as Hungary's ambassador for energy security from 2010 to 2015. She is not related to Viktor Orbán.
Why here: She announced the expulsion and justified it as a violation of the Vienna Convention.
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Péter Magyar
Hungarian politician and lawyer, Prime Minister of Hungary since May 9, 2026, and chairman of the TISZA party since 2024. He was a member of the European Parliament from 2024 to 2026.
Why here: The expulsion is one of the first significant foreign policy steps his government has taken toward Moscow.
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Viktor Orbán
Hungarian politician, prime minister from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2010 to May 2026, chairman of the Fidesz party. He was one of the European Union politicians with the closest ties to Moscow.
Why here: According to Péter Balázs, the same diplomats worked at the embassy under his government without consequences.
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Maria Zakharova
Spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in office since August 2015. The first woman to hold this position.
Why here: She promised a "tough and painful" response to the expulsion.
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Dmitry Peskov
Longtime spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, in this role since 2012, and also deputy head of the presidential administration.
Why here: On Wednesday he said the expulsion would not go unanswered, but that Russia does not want to sever relations.
More info →Péter Balázs
Hungarian diplomat and economist, foreign minister in Gordon Bajnai's government from April 2009 to May 2010, previously briefly European Commissioner for Regional Policy. He also served as ambassador to Denmark, Germany, and the European Union.
Why here: He claims that Orbán's government overlooked the activity of these diplomats.
András Rácz
Hungarian Russia expert, deputy director general for research and science at the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs since August 2026.
Why here: He explained what the reference to the Vienna Convention means in diplomatic language.
Vienna Convention
International convention on diplomatic relations, privileges, and immunities of diplomatic missions from 1961.
Why here: Budapest invoked it precisely in the expulsion.
More info →Agentstvo
Independent Russian news and investigative website operating in exile. It emerged in 2021 after authorities cracked down on the Proekt media outlet's editorial team, and has operated under its own name since 2022.
Why here: In April 2026 it published an analysis of the staff composition of the Russian embassy in Budapest.
Moscow announces retaliation, does not want to sever relations
According to wire reports, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow's response to the "Russophobic lobby in Budapest" would be "tough and painful." Russian Ambassador to Budapest Yevgeny Stanislavov declared that the new Hungarian leadership has fallen captive to ideologically motivated anti-Russian rhetoric and that Hungarian assurances about maintaining communication channels are worthless. He called the move an unprecedented and unjustified escalation. Denník N ↗The Kremlin struck a milder tone on Wednesday. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such steps would not go unanswered and could have negative consequences for bilateral relations, but added that Russia remains open to their further development and does not want to damage the "valuable heritage and experience" of mutual relations. Aktuality ↗
STVR correspondent in Budapest Gregor Martin Papucsek described the atmosphere on the Russian side as unusual fury and calls for revenge. STVR ↗
Embassy addresses Hungarian citizens
On Wednesday, the embassy thanked Hungarian citizens on Facebook for words of support it said it had received via social media. In its statement, it claims the decision is unprecedented in the modern history of bilateral relations, does not correspond to Hungary's national interests, and does not serve to protect its security or sovereignty. According to the embassy, neither Russia nor its diplomatic representatives pose any threat to Hungary. Aktuality ↗The embassy also claims that Budapest is using "fabricated and ideological mantras typical of Brussels" to justify its actions, and that developments suggest a trend in which Hungary is losing independence in foreign policy. Hospodárske noviny ↗
What Budapest said with the expulsion
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anita Orbán announced on Tuesday morning that ten employees of the Russian diplomatic mission had been engaged in activity in Hungary that is impermissible under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. According to her, the decision protects the country's security and sovereignty and does not mean a severance of diplomatic relations with Russia. "Hungary intends to continue the necessary dialogue based on mutual respect and adherence to the rules," she said. Aktuality ↗According to Russia expert and deputy director general of the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs András Rácz, that phrase has an established meaning in diplomatic language and denotes illegal intelligence activity — the Vienna Convention allows diplomats to gather information about the host country only through legal means. Hungarian diplomacy informed the Russian ambassador of the step and called on the diplomats concerned to leave. Denník N ↗
What a Russian investigative outlet found out about the embassy
The expulsion was preceded by an analysis published on April 8, 2026, by the independent Russian outlet Agentstvo. According to it, 15 of the 47 employees then registered at the Russian embassy in Budapest had ties to Russian intelligence services, and another six were suspected of similar connections. The finding is based on leaked data and the Hungarian diplomatic register, with journalists working from indirect indicators such as previous employment, education, and registered addresses. Agentstvo ↗ Meduza ↗These are indications from open and leaked sources, not official confirmation. Hungarian authorities have not disclosed the names of the expelled diplomats or provided details, so it cannot be determined from available reports whether those expelled are among the individuals described in the April analysis. Euronews ↗
What a former minister says about it
Péter Balázs, who led Hungarian diplomacy in Gordon Bajnai's government in 2009 and 2010, said in an interview with the Hungarian website 24.hu that the expelled diplomats had already been working at the Russian embassy under Viktor Orbán's government. According to Balázs, his cabinet overlooked their activity, which was incompatible with a diplomatic mission, because it sought to maintain good relations with Moscow even after Russia's attack on Ukraine. The report was picked up by the Czech outlet Novinky. Novinky ↗This is a former minister's interpretation, not an investigative finding — Hungarian authorities have not commented in detail on the reasons, and we have not recorded a Fidesz response to this specific accusation. What is documented so far is this: Viktor Orbán led Hungary continuously from 2010 to 2026, was one of the European Union politicians with the closest ties to the Kremlin, and Hungary did not join the mass waves of expulsions of Russian diplomats that took place in most European Union states after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, there is a precedent for an individual case: in March 2018, the then Orbán government expelled one Russian diplomat as part of a coordinated response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, and Moscow retaliated in kind at the time by expelling one Hungarian diplomat. Fidesz lost the parliamentary elections in April 2026, and Péter Magyar took office on May 9. Al Jazeera ↗ Direkt36 ↗
The change of course is accompanied by caution on both sides. The Kremlin signaled its readiness to establish contact with the new leadership already after Tisza's victory in April, and Magyar himself acknowledged this. Aktuality ↗
What hotinfo is watching
- Rusko oznámilo konkrétnu odvetu a je známe, či zahŕňa vyhostenie maďarských diplomatov z Moskvy.
- Maďarská strana zverejnila bližšie dôvody vyhostenia alebo mená dotknutých diplomatov.
- Vláda Pétera Magyara do konca roka 2026 oznámila ďalšie opatrenie voči Moskve.
- Je známe, či Rusko po vyhostení doplnilo personál veľvyslanectva v Budapešti na pôvodný stav.
Photo: the building of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Budapest (archive photo). Photo: Aled Betts / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
