MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga has accused Hungary of kidnapping seven Ukrainian citizens - employees of Oschadbank.
Ukraine's Oschadbank said that the seven cash collectors detained in Hungary were transporting $40 million, €35 million, and 9 kg of gold. Hungary has not yet commented on Ukraine's claims.
TASS has compiled the key details known about the situation.
Statements by Ukraine
- In Budapest, Hungarian authorities took seven Ukrainian citizens hostage, Sibiga wrote on X.
- According to him, the individuals are employees of the state-owned Oschadbank.
- The employees were traveling in two armored vehicles between Austria and Ukraine, transporting funds and valuables as part of regular transfers between state banks, he said.
- Sibiga accused Hungary of stealing money and holding hostages.
- According to him, Kiev will also appeal to the EU "with a request for a clear qualification" of Budapest’s actions.
- An official note has been sent to Hungary demanding the immediate release of the Ukrainian citizens, Sibiga said.
- The National Bank of Ukraine said on its Telegram channel that it demands an official explanation from Hungary for the detention.
Bank statement
- Ukraine's Oschadbank said that the seven cash collectors detained in Hungary were carrying $40 million, €35 million, and 9 kg of gold.
- According to a statement published on the bank’s website, two cash-in-transit vehicles accompanied by seven employees were detained in Hungary on March 5.
- It specified that the transportation of funds and valuables was carried out under an agreement with Austria's Raiffeisen Bank.
- Oschadbank states that, according to representatives of the Ukrainian embassy and GPS signals, the two cash-in-transit vehicles "are in the center of Budapest, near one of Hungary’s law enforcement agencies."
- The bank says it is unaware of the location of its employees.
Hungary-Ukraine conflict
- Recently, relations between Hungary and Ukraine have significantly deteriorated.
- On March 5, Vladimir Zelensky once again spoke out against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, threatening to turn the Ukrainian armed forces against him if Budapest continues to block the European Union’s €90 billion military loan to Ukraine.
- Budapest took this step in response to Kiev’s suspension of Russian oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline.
- By blocking the oil pipeline, the Ukrainian leadership is trying to pressure Hungary to reconsider its position on the conflict and not interfere with Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
- The Hungarian government has repeatedly stated that it will not agree to the country’s swift admission to the EU and will not send its citizens’ money there.
- Hungarians mobilized into the Ukrainian army are being forcibly sent to the hottest areas of the front with no prospect of return, Ruslan Itkulov, a captured Ukrainian National Guard fighter, told TASS.
- Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto previously reported that the charge d’affaires of the Hungarian Embassy in Kiev had been summoned to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry over the release from Russian captivity of two Transcarpathian Hungarians who had fought in the Ukrainian military.