Szabolcs Panyi

The “James Bond-like” Russian Duma politician Leonid Slutsky arranged the Moscow visit of David Lindtner, a close ally to and advisor of Robert Fico.

A German-Hungarian pro-Orbán media figure who frequently appears in government-aligned outlets and once ran as a Fidesz candidate, Georg Spöttle, is now at the center of a national security controversy.

Breaking NATO informal diplomatic protocol, Hungary’s senior army chief engaged in a conversation with Russia’s military attaché at a Chinese diplomatic event, surprising Western allies. While Bratislava, Prague, and Warsaw have all expelled Russia’s…

Hungary’s government and its EU presidency, which began on Monday, did not officially inform EU and NATO allies about Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. This was confirmed to VSquare by…

Back in 2020, Slovakia’s then-Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini asked Viktor Orbán to act as a middleman between him and the Kremlin. He aimed for an invitation to Moscow just before Slovakia’s parliamentary election – hoping that it would appeal to…

Caught a Russian spy? You may try to flip them first, perhaps offering work as a double agent—all with the help of the British, the French, or the Americans. If it doesn’t work out, you can still expel them and send them home to Moscow. In an in…

For example, there’s Krzysztof Bosak, head of the far-right Konfederacja (Confederation) party, and Gregorz Braun, a newly elected Konfederacja MP who was suspended after infamously putting out a Hanukkah menorah in the Polish Sejm with a fire…

Russia’s diplomatic mission to the EU is led by Kirill Logvinov, whom Belgian counterintelligence suspects to be carrying out Russian foreign intelligence functions in Brussels. Despite this, the European Commission has so far refused to expel…

Coal rail cars. Source: Robert Neumann / Forum Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia has a secret battlefield, one nestled within NATO territory. This strange battle is over the many hundreds of Russian and Belarusian rail cars stranded near the…

In this conversation with RevDem Editor Robert Nemeth, Hungarian journalist Szabolcs Panyi talks about the Hungarian government’s response to the war in Ukraine, why it is not willing to counter Russian infiltration in Hungary, the reasons behind the…

Hungarian NewsFront is active again. But under the management of the Russian government media’s favorite Hungarian pseudo-expert, Miklós Keveházy, the website has been unable to achieve great reach. There might be no need, as Hungarian state…

Since 2015, NewsFront was mainly operated by people who originated from territories occupied after 2014 in Ukraine, namely Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk. According to the data in the possession of an international team of journalists, in addition to…

How did Viktor Orban turn from an avid anti-Russian politician to the biggest friend of Putin in the European Union?Why did Hungarian government create its own “oligarchs” and are Hungarian media independent? Why the EU can’t do much about it? How…

In June 2021 in a Bratislava supermarket parking lot, a spy working for Russia’s military intelligence, the GRU, hit a Slovak woman with his car. The 51-year-old woman was taken to hospital with serious injuries. However, unlike some other incidents…

The 86-year-old Argentine pontiff will remain in the capital Budapest during his trip due to his fragile health a month after being hospitalised for bronchitis. The Pope arrived just before 10am local time in the Hungarian capital, where key roads…

Specialized equipment for signals intelligence (SIGINT) has been mounted on the roof of the Russian diplomats’ building in Warsaw. From Warsaw to Budapest, Stockholm, or Brussels – we found similar equipment on the rooftops of Russian facilities…

Sweden has delivered a total of 14 Gripen fighters to complete Hungary's programme of replacing its fleet of MIG fighter jets. Kecskemet's military airport January 28, 2008. Source: Laszlo Balogh / Reuters / Forum “Mr. Secretary of State, are we…

Russians demand their money in Hungary’s controversial golden visa scheme Lawyers of bondholders told Direkt36 that hundreds of thousands of euros were stuck with the intermediary company VolDan. Meanwhile, the company’s Hungarian representative…

The International Investment Bank (IIB), a Russia-linked bank in Budapest, sounded very confident on February 24 last year, the day Russia invaded Ukraine. In a statement issued that day, it said that “recent geopolitical events do not in any way…

Source: Karl-Erik Leik and Mart Nigola / Delfi Estonia We have obtained a document that shows how Russia plans to take control of Belarus. The strategy, written for Vladimir Putin’s administration, envisions In the fall of 2021, while the Kremlin’s…