BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) \u2014 Hungarian authorities detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying large amounts of cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said Friday.<\/p>\n
Ukraine accused Hungary\u2019s pro-Russian government of taking the Ukrainians hostage and illegally seizing millions of dollars in cash. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not tolerate this state banditism,\u201d Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Friday. \u201cEveryone who is responsible for taking and holding our citizens hostage will be held accountable.\u201d <\/p>\n
The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and Ukraine as part of regular services between state banks, Sybiha said.<\/p>\n
The shipment apprehended by Hungary included 40 million U.S. dollars as well as 35 million euros and 9 kilograms (19.8 pounds) of gold \u2014 worth around $1.5 million at current prices \u2014 according to a separate statement by Oschadbank.<\/p>\n
Hungary\u2019s National Tax and Customs Administration confirmed Friday that it had detained the Ukrainian citizens and seized the two armored cash-transport vehicles. It added it was conducting criminal proceedings on suspicion of money laundering.<\/p>\n
In a later statement, Hungary\u2019s Government Information Center said the seven Ukrainians would be expelled from Hungarian territory on Friday. It said they included a former general of the Ukrainian Security Service, a former major of the Ukrainian Air Force and \u201cindividuals with military experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement did not detail why, if the Ukrainians were suspected of money laundering, they would be released from custody and expelled. <\/p>\n
The incident further inflamed rising tensions between Hungary and Ukraine, which are embroiled in a bitter feud<\/a> over Hungary\u2019s access to Russian oil through a pipeline that crosses Ukrainian territory. <\/p>\n Oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline have been interrupted since Jan. 27. Ukraine says a Russian drone strike damaged the pipeline\u2019s infrastructure, and that repairing it carried risks to technicians. It said that even if restored, it would remain vulnerable to further Russian attacks. <\/p>\n Hungary\u2019s government has accused Ukraine of deliberately holding up supplies of Russian crude, and has vowed to take strong countermeasures against Kyiv until oil flows resume. <\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n stakes election on anti-Ukraine campaign<\/p>\n Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, who has maintained close relations with the Kremlin while escalating an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign<\/a> ahead of crucial elections next month, has called Ukraine Hungary\u2019s \u201cenemy,\u201d and accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of seeking to provoke an energy crisis in order to sway the April 12 vote. <\/p>\n \u201cThe best way for the Ukrainians to achieve their demands on Hungary is if they get rid of the national government and the prime minister who is standing in their way,\u201d Orb\u00e1n said in statements to state radio on Friday.<\/p>\n While he did not directly mention the detention of the bank vehicles, Orb\u00e1n alluded to the incident, saying: \u201cWe will stop things that are important to Ukraine passing through Hungary until we get the approval of the Ukrainians for oil shipments.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Ukrainians will run out of money sooner than we will run out of oil,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n Trailing in most polls behind a popular center-right challenger, the populist Orb\u00e1n has staked the election on convincing voters that Ukraine poses an existential threat to Hungary\u2019s security. <\/p>\n In office since 2010, the EU\u2019s longest-serving leader has claimed that if he loses the election, the European Union will force Hungary into bankruptcy by cutting Russian energy imports, and that Hungarian youth will be sent to their deaths on the front lines in Ukraine. <\/p>\n In his post, Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister cast Orb\u00e1n\u2019s conduct as electoral politicking, saying the detention of the seven Ukrainians and seizure of money was \u201cpart of Hungary\u2019s blackmail and electoral campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe reserve the right to take appropriate action, including initiating sanctions and other restrictive measures,\u201d Sybiha wrote. \u201cWe once again demand Hungary stop dragging Ukraine into its domestic politics and electoral campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n Hungary clings to Russian oil<\/p>\n Hungary, along with neighboring Slovakia, have defied EU efforts to wean off Russian fossil fuels, and continued to purchase them despite Moscow\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n previously ceased diesel shipments to Ukraine, vetoed a new round of EU sanctions against Russia and blocked a major, 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) loan<\/a> for Kyiv in retaliation for the interruption in oil shipments. He\u2019s also deployed military forces<\/a> to key energy infrastructure sites across Hungary, accusing Ukraine of plotting disruptions. <\/p>\n On Thursday, Orb\u00e1n told an economic forum that Hungary would use \u201cforce,\u201d including \u201cpolitical and financial tools,\u201d to compel Ukraine to resume oil shipments. <\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Ministry on Friday urged Ukrainian citizens to abstain from visiting Hungary, saying their security could not be guaranteed amid \u201carbitrary actions by the Hungarian authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ministry also called for Ukrainian and European businesses to take into account \u201cthe risk of arbitrary seizure of property\u201d in Hungary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) \u2014 Hungarian authorities detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying large amounts…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":636691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[90,10102,60,57,227088,15127,2850,95760,22938,16819,50,80,3657,16816,5343,25680,273,3660,16815,3656,103,107],"class_list":["post-636690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-elections","tag-energy-industry","tag-financial-services","tag-general-news","tag-global-positioning-systems","tag-hostage-situations","tag-hungary","tag-hungary-government","tag-kidnapping","tag-money-laundering","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-sanctions-and-embargoes","tag-terrorism","tag-transportation-and-shipping","tag-ukraine","tag-ukraine-government","tag-viktor-orban","tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116183182081731503","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}