Hungary Expels Russian Diplomats — Moscow Vows a “Tough and Painful” Response

Foreign Minister Anita Orbán

“The decision by the Hungarian authorities to expel ten Russian diplomats under the pretext of ‘non-compliance with the Vienna Convention’ could have unpleasant consequences for Budapest, including a reduction or even a complete halt to Russian gas supplies via the TurkStream pipeline,” Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in an interview with Parlamentskaya Gazeta.

Foreign Minister Anita Orbán announced on social media on Tuesday morning that ten employees of the Russian Embassy in Budapest would have to leave Hungary because, according to the assessment of the Hungarian authorities, they had engaged in activities incompatible with their diplomatic status. The foreign minister justified the decision on the grounds of protecting Hungary’s security and sovereignty. At the same time, however, she emphasized that Hungary was seeking to keep the current measure separate from its diplomatic relations with Russia as a whole.

Acting on my instructions, on Tuesday the relevant official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Russian ambassador to Hungary that, according to the assessment of the Hungarian authorities, 10 members of the Russian mission had engaged in activities in Hungary that…

— Anita Orban (@_OrbanAnita) September 8, 2026

Shortly afterward, the Russian government’s response also arrived. Moscow announced countermeasures. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it would respond to the Hungarian decision. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was considerably more forceful in comments to TASS: she promised Budapest a “tough and painful” response. Zakharova told the Russian state news agency that

the group that Moscow describes as the “Russophobic lobby in Budapest” should expect a response.

So far, the Russian Foreign Ministry has not said exactly what measures are being planned or when the countermeasures might be announced.

The Russian ambassador in Budapest, Yevgeny Stanislavov, described the events as

an “extremely unfriendly move” and an “unprecedented and unjustified escalation.”

The ambassador also described Budapest’s statement that Hungary intended to maintain dialogue with Russia despite the expulsions as unconvincing. He said that these statements were “completely worthless.”

In an interview on Tuesday evening, Vladimir Dzhabarov spoke about Péter Magyar having broken with the policy of his predecessor. “Unfortunately, Péter Magyar, who took office as Hungarian prime minister in May this year, has, in my opinion, simply begun destroying everything his predecessor Viktor Orbán achieved. Orbán made great efforts to build pragmatic relations between our countries based on mutual respect; for instance, he traveled to Moscow several times and met there with President Vladimir Putin.

Magyar, by contrast, clearly wants to curry favor with the European Union.

Perhaps he also hopes that, in return for his loyalty, the EU will release the credit line for Hungary that was frozen several years ago. But in any case, I consider this a rather minor problem for us,” he said, before getting to the heart of the matter.

“Hungary is a small country, and if we were to lose it as a stable economic and political partner, this would not cause us any particular harm. The same cannot be said of Hungary itself.” In making this point, he was referring to a possible halt in supplies through the TurkStream gas pipeline. In his view, Magyar might yet regret his action if Hungarian businesspeople were to explain to him clearly what danger the loss of such a significant energy source would pose to the country and its economy, and present him with the calculations and estimated losses.

He recalled that there had been a similar situation with Bulgaria: in 2022, its diplomats were expelled and Russia was declared an “unfriendly country”; in response, gas supplies were halted.

“They apologized profusely at the time and were later very happy when supplies resumed. And here, I believe, it is exactly the same story,” First Deputy Chairman said, adding: “Magyar has—whether because of his youth and inexperience or for other reasons—decided to demonstrate his anti-Russian stance, but he has not yet fully understood what a major problem he has created with this decision.”

“However, as you can see, there is already a feeling that something has gone wrong. We will see when this becomes completely clear to him.” He emphasized that there was no question of a complete severing of diplomatic relations. “In the 1970s, for instance, the United Kingdom expelled 24 of our diplomats at once, which did not lead to a break in relations, although it undoubtedly weakened them considerably,” Dzhabarov said.

Via vg.hu, Featured image: MTI/Hegedüs Róbert