The Ukrainian state's smear campaign "expressly aims to undermine the international reputation of the head of government and weaken Hungary's ability to enforce its interests," Kocsis said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

"The aim of the current operation is to use the press -- Hungarian and international journalists -- to publish articles and materials containing fake information serving to negatively influence international public opinion," he added.

"The Ukrainians have allocated a significant sum to spread such reports," Kocsis said, adding that certain members of the Hungarian press were involved in the Ukrainian smear operations.

"Some quarters of the press claiming to be independent are already willing to sell out the home country for Ukrainian money," he said.


Boka to brief EU ministers on 'disinformation campaigns by Ukrainian secret services and Brussels-funded NGOs'

EU affairs minister Janos Boka said on Facebook that he was about to brief an informal meeting of his counterparts in Warsaw on "disinformation campaigns" waged by Ukrainian secret services and NGOs funded from Brussels.

Boka said that hybrid warfare and disinformation campaigns were on the agenda of the meeting.

"I'm going to relate information from the [Hungarian] national security committee, according to which Ukrainian secret services conducted a disinformation campaign against the Hungarian government and the prime minister of Hungary," he said.

The minister said he would also brief the meeting on "a network of NGOs, funded earlier by the US and now by the EU, working to undermine trust in public institutions in Hungary."

The meeting will also table the European Commission's proposals on the next seven-year financial framework. He called the proposals "concerning" as the EC would "extend rule-of-law conditionality provisions and eliminate independent cohesion and agricultural funds".

Those proposals "are unacceptable for us", Boka said.

"We will protect the EU funding of Hungarian farmers, the cohesion funds, and reject all proposals that would use EU resources to exert ideological or political pressure."


Menczer: Orban to be attacked using Ukrainian, Soros's money

Prime Minister Viktor Orban "will be attacked" using money from Ukraine and George Soros money, Fidesz communications chief Tamas Menczer said on social media on Friday, adding that the information came from the Hungarian secret services given at a briefing to parliament's national security committee three days ago.

He said media outlet Direkt36's film attacking Orban was the first stage of Ukraine's "campaign of defamation", and he called on Direkt36 to reveal who gave it money and how much.

Menczer referred to "forces financed from abroad", saying Hungary would "fight them", and declaring that "Hungary comes first! Not Brussels, not Ukraine. We know what they're doing!"


Ukraine crisis - Kocsis: Information on Ukraine's smear attempts not classified

Information made public regarding Ukraine's attempts to smear the Hungarian prime minister was never classified, Mate Kocsis, the leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group, said on Wednesday, dismissing an accusation by opposition Democratic Coalition MP Agnes Vadai "and the left-wing press" that releasing information from a closed session of parliament's national security committee had been a crime.

In a Facebook post, Kocsis referred to comments he made on Tuesday regarding information he said came from the secret services suggesting that Ukraine, aided and abetted by certain sections of the Hungarian media, had tried to spread "fake news" about Prime Minister Viktor Orban so as to "weaken Hungary's ability to assert its interests".

Kocsis insisted that Vadai had failed to "learn the relevant rules" after her 23 years of being an MP. Noting that she has been barred from national security committee meetings, he said: "Perhaps this is a good thing".

He said the fact that the committee meeting had been held behind closed doors did not in itself make the content of its discussions a secret.

Kocsis said Ukraine was trying to smear the government because Hungary "opposes the war". He added that the real problem was Ukraine's actions and the help it had received from certain Hungarian citizens rather than the fact he had made them public.


Ukraine crisis - More than 4,000 Ukrainian citizens enter Hungary on Thursday

Fully 4,343 Ukrainian citizens entered Hungary at the Ukraine-Hungary border on Thursday, according to the national police headquarters (ORFK).

Police issued temporary residence permits valid for 30 days to 27 people, ORFK said on Friday, 8 February.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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