Hungary expels 10 Russian diplomats, the first public purge since 2018

Hungary told 10 members of the Russian mission in Budapest to leave the country on Tuesday, the first public expulsion of Russian diplomats from the capital since 2018 and the first since Russia invaded Ukraine. Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said the 10 had engaged in activities "unacceptable for diplomats under the Vienna Convention." She informed the Russian ambassador. Russia said it would respond and that the response would be painful for Hungary, Interfax reported.

Anita Orbán is not related to Viktor Orbán, who lost power in April after 16 years. The new prime minister, Péter Magyar, took office on a brief to cut corruption and dismantle the structures the old government left behind. Viktor Orbán had kept a working line to Vladimir Putin after February 2022, continued buying Russian oil and gas, slowed EU sanctions and blocked a €90 billion European loan to Ukraine. When other EU states expelled dozens of Russian diplomats in 2022, Hungary expelled none. That record ended on Tuesday.

"This decision protects Hungary's security and sovereignty," the foreign minister said. "It does not imply breaking off diplomatic relations with Russia. Hungary intends to continue the necessary dialogue, based on mutual respect and adherence to the rules." Bloomberg described the 10 as accused of espionage. The ministry statement used the Vienna Convention formula and did not list charges in public. That is the usual method. Names and alleged tasks stay inside the security services. The number, 10, is large enough to empty desks and small enough to leave an ambassador in place.

Moscow's threat of a painful reply is also standard. Russia typically matches expulsions, sometimes with extras. Hungarian diplomats in Moscow should expect packing orders. Energy trade is the other lever. Hungary still takes Russian oil and gas through pipelines that do not need the Strait of Hormuz. Magyar has not announced a cut-off. He has announced a diplomatic slap. Those two facts can sit together for a while. They cannot sit together forever if Brussels asks Budapest to vote for the next Ukraine facility.

The European context is the reason the story travels. For four years Hungary was the EU member that treated Russian diplomats as untouchable while it treated Ukrainian loan votes as optional. A government that sends 10 Russians home is telling Berlin, Paris and Brussels that the veto-for-Moscow period is over, or at least that it can be paused. It is also telling domestic voters that the new cabinet will use the security services against a former patron.

What the statement does not do is publish the activities. Without that list, the public has a number, a legal phrase and a change of prime minister. That is already a policy shift. The test will be the Russian counter-expulsion, the next EU vote on Ukraine money, and whether any of the 10 reappear in another European capital under a different title. For tonight, Budapest has done what it refused to do in 2022, and Moscow has promised pain.