Hungarian Defense Ministry leadership filed complaint against predecessors for allegedly selling significant quantity of russian-manufactured BTR-80As to Serbia at scrap metal price.
However, no clear certainty exists about exactly how many vehicles are involved — 22, 66 or even 108 (out of 120 available as of 2024). This follows from Hungarian portal Telex publication.
Current Hungarian Defense Ministry head claims these BTR-80As were first sold to shell company, which then resold vehicles to Serbia. At same time, delivery cost of 66 units was allegedly only €935,000.
If proceeding from figure of €935,000, then reduction of one euro per kilogram is entirely correct, as at combat mass of 14.5 tons, 66 BTR-80A armored personnel carriers would cumulatively weigh 957 tons (957,000 kilograms).
Especially since this case involved predominantly serviceable vehicles. Hungarian Defense Ministry was formally interested in selling BTR-80As as profitably as possible, to direct received resources toward supplying army with 218 newest KF41 Lynx tracked IFVs from Rheinmetall, within joint production project.
Defense Express draws attention to following points. It turns out in this BTR-80A investigation story, Hungarians are weighing idea of possible geopolitical alliance with Serbia against Croatia, Albania and Kosovo, discussed since spring 2025. Especially after BTR-80A and MiG-29 deliveries effectively put Hungarians into russia’s weapons supplier niche for Serbs.
At same time, Serbia itself managed to preserve its interest here, as BTR-80As enabled quickly expanding wheeled armored vehicle fleet, which previously comprised only 10 Soviet BTR-60s and 40 domestically produced Lazar 3s.
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