Russians suggested staging an assassination attempt on Orban to boost his chances in the elections
According to media reports, the Russian foreign intelligence service began to sound the alarm about the decline in the approval ratings of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the eve of the April elections. In order to boost his chances, the Russians suggested staging an assassination attempt.
In an internal report of the Russian foreign intelligence service, which was obtained by journalists, Russian operatives suggested a way to “fundamentally change the entire paradigm of the election campaign” – to organize an assassination attempt on Viktor Orban.
“Such an incident would shift the perception of the campaign from the rational sphere of socio-economic issues to an emotional one, where the key topics would be state security and stability and the protection of the political system,” the Russians wrote.
Polls show that Orban and his Fidesz party are lagging behind opposition leader Peter Magyar.
“The majority (52.3%) are dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the country. Dissatisfaction prevails not only in cities, but also in rural areas (50.8%), where the positions of the ruling Fidesz party are traditionally strong,” the Russian officers wrote.
In their report, the Russian operatives suggested that Orbán equate his rule with peace and “space for stability, predictability and long-term development,” and also focus the campaign on portraying Magyar as a “puppet” of Brussels and his Tisza party as a “war party” supporting Ukraine.
Russia also instructed agents to smear opposition candidates. The operations included efforts to create an AI video about Tisza candidate Maria Gurzó. As for her colleague Erwin Nagy, the Russians concocted a plot to fabricate charges of beating a local woman, forge documents and photos, and then spread disinformation.