A recent report circulated in Slovak media has revealed that the firms affiliated with persons from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s entourage are financed through the Russian Sberbank.
According to a Slovak-based outlet InfoDnes.sk, Budapest is deliberately sabotaging the EU move to switch off SWIFT for Russia’s Sberbank because the accounts of Hungarian companies implementing joint Hungarian-Russian projects, associated with oligarchs close to Orban, are active in this financial institution.
We are talking about the following companies: Centrex Hungária Zrt.(part of the Dunaferr group, specializing in gas trading); TMH Hungary Invest Zrt. (railway car production, transport services, logistics); Rosatom Central Europe LLC, ASE AO Magyarországi Fióktelepe (Hungarian branch of Atomstroyexport (Russia), Ganz EEM Ltd, European Power Services Ltd (nuclear energy); Market Építő Zrt., Duna Aszfalt Zrt. (owners are oligarchs close to Orban: Istvan Garanci and Laszlo Siya; operating in the construction sector), and a number of less significant firms in the industry.
Also, the Hungarian prime minister stands against including in the EU sanctions list two Russian oligarchs from Putin’s entourage: Kantor and Gref.
Also, it should be recalled that Hungary’s PM said he would not support EU proposals to sanction Russian Orthodox Church Primate, Patriarch Kirill.
Orban explained his stance by claiming he is generally against sanctioning religious leaders.