Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has suggested that Ukraine may be behind an attempted bombing of one of the country’s major gas pipelines just days before voters head to the polls for the most contested election in decades.
According to the Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet, security services in Serbia discovered a large explosive device at the Turkish Stream gas pipeline near the Hungarian border. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is reported to have informed Budapest that if the bomb had been successfully triggered, gas supply to Hungary would have been interrupted.
Bálint Pásztor, the leader of the local Vojvodina Hungarian Association (VMSZ), which represents the large Hungarian population on the Serbian side of the border near the pipeline, said that he believed it was an attempted terrorist attack aimed at toppling Prime Minister Orbán ahead of this month’s elections.
In a post on social media on Sunday, Orbán said the pipeline is “vital” to Hungary’s energy supply, accounting for around 60 per cent of national gas consumption. He said that there will be increased military monitoring of the Hungarian section of the pipeline, while the Serbs have also committed to stepping up protection on their end.
The Hungarian leader warned that Europe is facing an “unprecedented energy crisis” amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and that energy supplies from Russia will therefore become increasingly crucial for energy imports.
However, seemingly linking Kyiv to the alleged attack on Turkish Stream, Orbán claimed that Ukraine has been “working for years to cut off Europe from Russian energy.”
“They blew up Nord Stream, shut down the gas pipeline supplying Hungary, and placed Hungary under an oil blockade, while the Russian section of Turkstream is under continuous military attack. Ukraine’s efforts pose a direct threat to Hungary. Hungary’s energy security is not a game; we will protect our energy system, the secure supply of families, and our national interest.
Orbán, who is seeking a fourth term in office, has made the issue of Ukraine a central pillar of his campaign strategy against his former party member-turned-rival Péter Magyar, whom he alleges will seek to allow Ukraine into the European Union.
Orbán has warned that this would negatively impact the Hungarian economy by allowing the importation of cheap Ukrainian goods and would open the door to mass migration from the neighbouring country. He has also said that this position would drag Hungary into war with Russia, and has staged large-scale anti-war campaign rallies over the past year in Budapest.
Magyar has denied that he would agree to the Brussels plan of fast-tracking membership for Ukraine, despite positioning himself as the “pro-Europe” alternative to Orbán, who has incurred sanctions from Eurocrats over his conservative government’s refusal to allow illegal immigrants claiming asylum into the country or to prevent LGBT content from being shown in children’s media.
In turn, Magyar, whose Tisza (Respect and Freedom) Party has shot to the top of the national polls, has attempted to cast Orbán as a Russian puppet, following similar accusations from globalists in Brussels.
The issue shot to the top of the headlines last month after the Washington Post alleged that Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó had passed confidential EU information to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Magyar has said that if confirmed, it would represent “treason”.
The hotly contested campaign, which will conclude on Sunday, has been widely portrayed as Magyar’s race to lose. However, some have raised doubts about whether his party’s lead in the national polls will translate into the individual constituency races on which the election will actually be decided.
Indeed, a recent seat-by-seat analysis by the Nézőpont Institute has projected that, out of the 106 constituencies, Orbán’s party is ahead in 66, compared to 40 for Magyar.
Orbán will also attempt to use his strong connections to the Trump administration as he lays out his final pitch to voters, with U.S. Vice President JD Vance arriving for a visit on Monday as the White House seeks to maintain its key ally in power in the region.
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