“Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) allegedly considered plans to influence elections in Hungary, including staging an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Viktor Orban in order to strengthen support for him, according to an internal document obtained by European security services, The Washington Post (WP) reported today.
Ahead of Hungary’s parliamentary elections in April, a unit of Russia’s SVR last month expressed concern over declining support for Orban.
In an internal SVR report, operatives proposed drastic measures under the codename “turning point,” including the possibility of “staging an assassination attempt on Viktor Orban” in order to “fundamentally change the paradigm of the election campaign,” WP states.
Such an incident would shift the campaign’s focus from socio-economic issues to emotional themes such as national security and the stability of the political system, it adds.
Polls show that Orban is trailing opposition Tisa party leader Peter Magyar, a former member of his Fidesz party.
According to European security sources, Russian support for Orban also includes social media campaigns portraying him as the sole defender of Hungary’s sovereignty.
Certain narratives have reportedly been spread through Russian diplomats in Budapest, who are said to have cooperated with pro-government media.
The SVR document also proposes a strategy for Orban to present his rule as a guarantor of peace and stability, while his opponent would be portrayed as a “puppet of Brussels,” WP reports.
At the same time, there are indications that Russian operatives have participated in campaigns to discredit opposition candidates, including the spread of disinformation and manipulated content”.
This is in The Serbian Times. I googled it because I’d heard somewhere ( news, podcast not sure?). But I immediately thought of Trumps assassination attempt ( even though he obviously wasn’t president at the time) and how he gained popularity from it. And that the guy who attempted it was taken out and couldn’t be interviewed. Plus the fact that Vance has been in Hungary drumming up support for Orban. Am I being paranoid or is there a parallel here?