Detained CIT staff back in Ukraine, where proceedings were initiated for hostage-taking

Late Friday afternoon, early evening, the seven CIT security staff apprehended by Hungary's Counter-Terrorism Unit on Thursday have returned to Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reported on X. The Ukrainians' lawyer told 24.hu that his clients were not suspected of any crime, but the authorities had not yet returned the seized money to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Budapest announced on Facebook that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have already initiated criminal proceedings for hostage-taking and misappropriation of property. "Ukraine reserves the right to respond appropriately and take countermeasures," they wrote.

TEK released a video of the incident, showing the convoy of cash transporters being intercepted on their way from Austria to Ukraine. As with the photos posted earlier, the video was captioned: "Ukrainian gold convoy operation." In Thursday's TEK operation, seven Ukrainian citizens, including a former secret service general, were arrested. The two armored cash transport vehicles were carrying $40 million, €35 million, and 9 kilograms of gold from Austria to Ukraine via Hungary.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha was the first to report on the case on social media, writing in his post that the Ukrainian cash-in-transit staff had been taken hostage in Hungary. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó demanded answers from Ukraine about the shipment, and Sándor Fegyir, Ukraine's ambassador to Hungary, went to the TEK headquarters but was not allowed in. Later, Syibiha wrote that sanctions against Hungary were being considered in response to the incident, while the seven members of the convoy were to be expelled from Hungary on Friday, according to information provided by the Government Information Center.