An investigation by The Insider alleges that Russian embassy officials and affiliated media figures in Budapest were involved in efforts to support Viktor Orbán’s re-election campaign, as Hungary heads into a vote that could present the strongest challenge to his rule since 2010.
An investigation by The Insider has placed alleged Russian intelligence and propaganda activity in Budapest at the centre of the final stage of Hungary’s election campaign, raising new questions about the extent to which actors linked to the Russian state may be working to protect Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s hold on power. According to the report, published on 8 April, several officials operating under diplomatic cover at the Russian embassy in Budapest were involved in efforts to assist Orbán and his Fidesz party ahead of the 12 April vote.
The article, written by Sergey Kanev for The Insider, identifies two figures as central to that effort. The first is Colonel Alexei Zarudnev, described as naval attaché at the Russian embassy and, according to the publication, an officer linked to the GRU headquarters in Moscow. The second is Minister Counsellor Tigran Garibyan, whom the report describes as responsible for relations with the local press and the public-relations side of the operation. The publication says it based these claims on a source inside the Russian embassy in Budapest, alongside biographical and travel data relating to the individuals named.
In the case of Zarudnev, The Insider report traces his background to the GRU’s 232nd Separate Special-Purpose Radio Battalion in Ostrogozhsk, in Russia’s Voronezh region. It says the unit was engaged in electronic intelligence and supplied intercepted material to the Russian General Staff. The same report states that Zarudnev later studied at the Frunze Military Academy and then at the Military-Diplomatic Academy’s second faculty, which it describes as training officers for military attaché service. According to the investigation, his regular travel to Hungary began in 2015.
The report goes beyond biography. It alleges that Zarudnev built a substantial network in Hungary over a decade, including contacts within the armed forces, intelligence structures, politics and public life. The Insider also links him to Russian commemorative and military heritage events in Hungary, saying such appearances helped him cultivate ties with Hungarian officials and military personnel. It names several Hungarian public figures and activists said to have attended events involving Zarudnev, including Endre Simó of the “Hungarian Circle of Peace”, Tamás Hirschler of the Hungarian League of Anti-Fascists, and former ambassador to Russia György Gilyán.
Garibyan’s role, as presented by the same investigation, is more directly tied to influence operations in the media sphere. The publication says he has been involved in managing local press relations and shaping narratives favourable to Orbán’s campaign. It cites a Washington Post report saying Garibyan was involved in a Kremlin effort to support Orbán and Fidesz by guiding pro-government Hungarian journalists on how to persuade voters that Orbán alone could defend Hungarian sovereignty. The Insider adds that Garibyan worked with Ekaterina Nedzvetskaya, described as the embassy’s first secretary and a monitor of Hungarian media and social media, tasked with promoting pro-Kremlin content.
The same Insider investigation identifies another figure it says sits above both men in practical importance: Mikhail Kulyasov. Although the publication says Kulyasov holds no formal post at the embassy, it alleges that he is in fact the head of the SVR residency in Hungary. The report states that he graduated from the SVR Academy in 1993, later worked under trade cover in EU countries, and subsequently served at Rosoboronexport, Russia’s state intermediary for military and dual-use exports. It also claims that Hungarian counter-intelligence may have identified him but was prevented from acting operationally against him. That specific point, however, does not appear to have been publicly confirmed by the Hungarian authorities.
The article also extends its account beyond formal diplomatic staff. The Insider names TASS correspondent Ivan Lebedev and VGTRK correspondent Denis Davydov as part of Garibyan’s wider team, alleging that they helped broadcast narratives portraying Orbán as the European leader who resisted anti-Russian pressure. In that telling, the Russian media presence in Budapest is presented not as routine foreign correspondence, but as part of a broader political and information operation aligned with Russian state interests.
These allegations are serious, and it is important to distinguish between what has been reported and what has been independently established. The Insider is making specific claims about intelligence officers, diplomatic cover, local networks and media coordination. Those claims have not, on the basis of the material reviewed here, been publicly confirmed in detail by Hungarian, EU or NATO authorities. At the same time, the wider context is one in which concerns about Hungary’s democratic standards are already well documented. In 2022, the European Parliament said Hungary could no longer be considered a full democracy, citing continuing concerns over the electoral system, media pluralism, judicial independence and corruption.
The electoral backdrop also helps explain the timing of the report. Reuters reported on 9 April that the opposition Tisza party was leading Fidesz in an independent poll ahead of Sunday’s vote, underlining that Orbán is facing the strongest challenge to his rule in sixteen years. Against that background, the Insider investigation is likely to attract attention not merely as another episode in the long record of Hungarian-Russian closeness, but as a claim that Russian state-linked actors may have moved from political sympathy to direct electoral involvement.
Click here for more News & Current Affairs at EU Today
Click here to check out EU TODAY’S SPORTS PAGE!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
