Putin’s former translator to play key role in Hungarian election observation
Hungarian rights groups are concerned about the appointment of a former translator for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to a key role in an international election observation mission in Hungary.
Daria Boyarskaya, who worked for many years in the Russian Foreign Ministry and has translated at numerous high-level meetings, including between Putin and Donald Trump, is now a senior adviser to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA) in Vienna. She is coordinating the organization’s mission to observe Hungary’s parliamentary elections next month.
The vote could end Viktor Orban’s premiership after 16 years in power. There have been widespread allegations that Russia is deploying resources to boost Orban’s chances in the election.
Boyarska has invited representatives of civil society organizations to a closed meeting next week in Budapest to share her concerns about the Hungarian political landscape. The meeting is expected to lay the groundwork for a larger monitoring mission.
“Such meetings often involve the exchange of highly confidential information about political pressure, risks of election manipulation, and threats faced by human rights defenders and journalists,” wrote Marta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
Regardless of whether Boyarska maintains ties to Russia, “even the idea that confidential negotiations could be accessed by malicious external actors” would hinder human rights defenders from speaking out freely, she said.
Pardavi asked the OSCE to consider immediately removing Boyarska from monitoring the Hungarian elections and ensuring that she does not have access to confidential information.
In response, Italian OSCE PA Secretary General Roberto Montella said Pardavi’s letter was “defamatory in nature.” He said he personally selected Boyarska to participate in the mission to Hungary and said she had his “full trust.”
According to the official, an external auditor investigated Boyarska’s case in 2023 and came to the “unequivocal” conclusion that the charges against her were unfounded.
However, in late 2022, Poland declared Boyarska persona non grata ahead of an OSCE PA meeting in the country, saying her presence “would pose a threat to state security.”
Travel records available in declassified Russian databases indicate that she has continued to visit Russia regularly since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.