President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an April 19 interview that he plans to raise the issue of confiscated Oschadbank funds in talks with Péter Magyar. He also commented on Hungary’s domestic politics and criticized former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Seized funds
Zelenskyy said he intends to discuss the return of funds taken by the Hungarian government. According to him, the money belonged to Ukraine’s state-owned Oschadbank and was confiscated by Orbán’s authorities.
On March 5, Hungarian officials stopped a convoy of two armored vehicles owned by the Ukrainian bank. The convoy was transporting $40 million and €35 million in cash, along with 9 kilograms of gold bullion, from Vienna to Kyiv. Kyiv stated this was a routine state cash transfer and that Hungarian authorities had been notified in advance. However, Budapest labeled the operation as money laundering. Hungary has not returned the seized assets.
“They took some money from us there… We will talk to Magyar. I think we should return it. Orban simply stole this money.,” Zelenskyy said.
Earlier, János Lázár confirmed that the seizure was intentional. He added that Hungary would keep the money and gold until Ukraine restores oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline.
Orbán’s defeat
In the same interview, Zelenskyy said Orbán lost the parliamentary elections because of a campaign built on hostility toward Ukraine. He argued that while hatred may bring short-term gains, it leads to long-term defeat.
“You can’t always win with hatred. You can win tactically, but you can definitely lose strategically. The elections in Hungary are Orban’s strategic loss,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that he had tried to maintain dialogue with Orbán even when anti-Zelenskyy billboards appeared in Hungary. The Ukrainian president stressed that hostility toward him reflects hostility toward the Ukrainian people.
“He built his campaign on hatred of Ukrainians, and the Hungarians showed: look, we don’t agree with this,” Zelenskyy said.
Earlier, The Ukrainian Review reported that Magyar does not support fast-tracking Ukraine’s EU membership. He plans to put the issue to a referendum, which could slow the process due to anti-Ukrainian sentiment among some voters.
