Russian ambassador to Magyar: There is no point in scaring Hungarians with fictitious Russian threats

Although diplomatic practice does not require public correspondence between ambassadors and the leaders of political parties, since Péter Magyar sent a public letter, the Russian ambassador is responding in kind – thus began Ambassador Evgeny Stanislavov in his letter addressed to Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar, published on the Russian Embassy's Facebook page on Monday.

He went on to say that he agrees with Magyar about Hungarians being a freedom-loving people who cannot be intimidated, as he has seen this for himself while working in Hungary, "which has been subjected to a lot of unfair pressure" from EU leaders in recent years.

"Unlike Brussels, Russia respects Hungary's sovereignty, does not interfere in its internal affairs, especially its election campaign. The choice lies solely with the Hungarian people," said the ambassador, who had already sent a similar message to Magyar in October 2025.

According to the post, it is the embassy's clear goal to ensure maintaining normal bilateral relations, developing mutually beneficial cooperation "as much as possible in the current situation," as well as protecting the interests of Russia and its citizens residing in Hungary. “Everything else has nothing to do with our diplomatic mission and our country, and is malicious fabrication.”

Stanislavov wrote that they will not tolerate "the spread of false news about the alleged interference of the Russian embassy in the Hungarian election campaign. I am sure that Hungarian voters understand why such stories are being spread," he wrote, and then went on to write at length about “a fabrication about Russia's involvement in the 2016 US presidential election”.

"It is clear that the infamous 'hand of the Kremlin' was merely a trivial element of domestic political struggle. Whether this 'broken record' should be included in the Hungarian election campaign is for you to decide," wrote the Russian ambassador.

The Russian embassy had previously sent a message to the leader of the Tisza Party, who had said on Facebook that “since János Kádár, Viktor Orbán is the first to invite the Russians into our country. We demand an immediate end to foreign interference in the Hungarian elections!”

According to Péter Magyar, “based on information from multiple sources, members of Russian military intelligence (GRU) arrived in Budapest weeks ago with the goal and mission of influencing the outcome of the Hungarian elections. They previously did the same thing in Moldova." By information from multiple sources, Magyar presumably meant that, in addition to Panyi, national security expert Péter Buda also reported on his page that he had learned that “Russian intelligence agents had arrived in Budapest for the purpose of influencing the elections.”

In the same post, the Russian embassy wrote that it was not true that Russian intelligence agents had arrived in Budapest to influence the outcome of the Hungarian elections. In response, Magyar – among other things – pointed out that no one could blackmail or threaten the Hungarian people.