Hungary’s extreme right Jobbik Party, which has long pushed Budapest to take up the cause of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine, is now even refusing to discuss an appeal by Finno-Ugric peoples in Russia for similar support, a pattern that underscores that Jobbik is less a Hungarian nationalist party than a Putinist front organization.
Last week, the Free Idel-Ural organization called on the Hungarian party to support the Finno-Ugric peoples in the Russian Federation just as consistently as it supports the ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine. (See Hungary’s Jobbik Party Could Turn Out to Be Moscow’s Worst Enemy.)
But since then the party has now refused even to speak with journalists about doing so, Ramazan Alpaut of Radio Svoboda’s IdelUral portal says, an obvious indication that Jobbik is following the Putin line of supporting secessionist groups everywhere except in the Russian Federation.
That position is at least hypocritical and, in the case of Jobbik, adds weight to charges that the party receives illegal funding from Moscow. Tracking such “inconsistencies” in the positions of parties like that and exposing them to public view is a critically important means of countering the Kremlin’s propaganda machine.
Further Reading:
- Far right and left, conspiracy theorists among “foreign monitors” at Russia’s sham Donbas elections: Report
- How Hungary became a weapon of Russian disinformation
- Hungary has stabbed us in the back, says Ukrainian political scientist
- Ukraine and Hungary both claim victory in Ukrainian education language argument
- Separatism Transcarpathian style: is Hungary aiming to grab a part of Ukraine?
- Putin actively using Cold War Stasi agent network in Germany, Reitschuster says
- Ukrainian-Hungarians that have died fighting for Ukraine’s freedom
- Tensions flare after Hungarian consul caught secretly issuing passports in western Ukraine
- Three largest Russian militant training facilities identified
- Democracy continues to degenerate in CEE and Eurasia: Freedom House report
- Kremlin said organizing secret military units in Germany, other Western countries
- Putin’s ‘secret weapon’ against the West – massive illegal cash hordes in foreign countries
- Moscow has complex system to run agents of influence abroad, Khmelnytskyi says
- Russian networks in Bulgaria
- Book details Kremlin’s influence networks in France
- Moscow creating ‘new Comintern’ spy network in Europe, Prague says
