In the thirteenth century, a Hungarian Dominican friar named
Julian traveled to the East in search of the
ancestral home of the Hungarians. During and following the Polish
November Uprising of 1830–1831 against Russia, the counties and parliament of Hungary voiced their support for the Polish uprising. The
Hungarian Revolution of 1848 under
Lajos Kossuth gained strong support across Hungary from 1848 to 1849. The young Austrian Emperor
Franz Joseph appealed to Tsar
Nicholas I for aid. He sent a large force that had been based in nearby
Russian-controlled Congress Poland and it suppressed the revolt. However, the military intervention was unpopular among the ordinary soldiers and the liberal officers of the Russian army. It was sharply criticized by such democrats as
Alexander Herzen and
Nikolay Chernyshevsky. Several hundred Hungarian volunteers fought alongside Poles in the
January Uprising against Russia in 1863–1864, forming a large group among the foreign volunteers.
Budapest Convention of 1877 was a secret agreement between Austria-Hungary and Russia outlining Austria-Hungary’s neutrality and the division of influence in the Balkans in the event of a Russo-Turkish war. The secret convention allowed Russia to focus on military operations against the Ottoman Turks while ensuring Austria-Hungary’s neutrality. For Austria-Hungary, it prevented the creation of a powerful Slavic state that might inspire independence movements within its empire.
Hungary and the Soviet Union Hungary was an ally of Germany during World War II. When Germany declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941, Hungary tried to remain neutral. When the controversial
bombing of Kassa occurred, the government quickly declared the state of war existed between Hungary and the USSR, without receiving the consent of the Parliament. The
Hungarian People's Republic () was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the control of the
Soviet Union. Following the
Soviet occupation of Hungary after World War II, the Soviets set up a police system that persecuted all opposition through direct force and propaganda, hoping this would lead to a Communist victory in the elections of 1946. Despite these efforts, the
Hungarian Communist Party came in third place in the elections, prompting the Soviets to directly impose a puppet government the following year. The next few years were spent consolidating power, using the
ÁVH secret police to suppress political opposition through intimidation, false accusations, imprisonment and torture. The worst of the repression came under the rule of
Mátyás Rákosi. At the height of his rule, Rákosi developed a strong
cult of personality. He described himself as "Stalin's best Hungarian disciple" and "Stalin's best pupil". After
Khrushchev's "
Secret Speech" denouncing Stalin's cult of personality, Rákosi was ultimately removed from power and replaced by the reformist
Imre Nagy, who attempted to take Hungary out of the Soviet bloc. This led to the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which was brutally crushed by the Soviets. Following the failed revolution, the Soviets instituted
János Kádár as the leader of Hungary. After an initial period of repressions against the revolutionaries, Kádár implemented a more moderate form of communism, which he referred to as "
Goulash Communism." He would rule until 1988, when he was removed from power just before the "
revolution" that ended Communism in Hungary.
Hungary and the Russian Federation 1991–2002 After 1991, Hungarian-Russian relations improved, but within the context of Hungary's increasing commitment to
Euro-Atlantic integration. Hungary participated in
NATO's
Partnership for Peace from 1994 under Prime Minister
Gyula Horn, becoming a full member in 1999, during
Viktor Orbán's first term as prime minister. In 1994, during the
Boross Government Hungary and Russia signed an agreement about the handling of international debt between the
Soviet Union and Hungary.
Gyurcsány–Medgyessy era (2002-2009) During the
Medgyessy Government (2002–2004) and the governments of Prime Minister
Ferenc Gyurcsány (
First Gyurcsány Government, 2004–2006;
Second Gyurcsány Government 2006–2009) relations continued to improve, and leaders of Hungary and Russia met several times, renewing their commitment to economic collaboration, especially in the energy sector. In 2005, Prime Minister
Ferenc Gyurcsány and Prime Minister
Mikhail Fradkov signed an agreement of economic cooperation in Moscow. In the same visit,
Ferenc Gyurcsány also met with President
Vladimir Putin. During this meeting, Putin promised Russia will return artifacts looted during
World War II to Hungary. In the same year, 2006, Vladimir Putin and
Sergey Lavrov visited Hungary. Putin paid his respects at a memorial of the 1956 uprising, said that Russia is not responsible for the atrocities. On this visit, Putin personally returned the looted artifacts as previously agreed. In his
2007 Munich speech, Vladimir Putin heavily criticized the United States and said that Russia will not tolerate Western dominance. In this period, Russia's foreign policy started to be monitored with more suspicion in the United States, and US ambassador
April H. Foley was keen to know where Hungary was going to stand. She met with Prime Minister
Ferenc Gyurcsány to talk about her concerns about Hungary getting too close with Russia. In their conversation
Ferenc Gyurcsány claimed he was not aware of declining relations between the United States, and according to Foley's report, he got defensive about his relationship with Russia. During the year 2007, relations between Western nations and Russia continued to deteriorate. Estonia removed a Soviet monument which angered the local
Russian minority and the Russian government, causing violent clashes between police and protesters in Estonia and the blockade of the Estonian embassy in Moscow. Later in the same year, a Finno-Ugric conference was held in
Udmurtia, home to a Finno-Ugric minority in Russia. President Vladimir Putin invited the governments of Hungary and
Finland, both independent nations speaking
Finno-Ugric languages, however high-ranking members of the third independent Finno-Ugric-speaking nation, Estonia were not invited due to the incident involving the Soviet monument in Estonia. Viktor Orbán, then the leader of the opposition urged the prime minister to decline Putin's invitation, citing that Russia's goal is to use the conference to isolate Estonia. In the end, both Hungarian prime minister
Ferenc Gyurcsány and Finnish president
Tarja Halonen attended the conference. Negative perception of this move was widespread, and
Ferenc Gyurcsány attempted to control the damage by signalling commitment to the Euro-Atlantic community.
Orbán's move towards Russia on 1 February 2022 Historically Orbán was staunchly anti-Russian. He strongly criticized
Ferenc Gyurcsány's foreign policy that he perceived as too pro-Russian. In 2007 he said that Hungary should use protectionist policies against countries like China and Russia, because while they are capitalist countries, they are still authoritarian. After his shift away from his previously strong anti-Russian views, Orbán often mentioned the importance of powerful "Eastern countries", and in a 2024 speech he declared that a new world order is unfolding. In 2010 Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced his foreign relations plan, the "Eastern Opening Policy." Created in opposition to Hungary's western alliances such as the
European Union (EU) and
NATO, the Eastern Opening plan heavily prioritized Russia as a viable ally, and efforts were taken to secure that tight relationship throughout 2013–2014. One major proof of this is the bilateral agreement between the two nations over the
Paks Nuclear Power Plant in Hungary, which called into the question the risk of Hungary becoming financially dependent on Russia for more than a few decades. On 21 January 2021, Hungary became the first European Union member state to approve the Russian
Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. In July 2021, Hungarian delegates to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) joined with Russia to protest Ukraine's "Indigenous law", which fails to mention Russians as "Indigenous" to Ukraine. Following the outbreak of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hungary, as an EU member state, imposed minor sanctions on Russia, while Russia subsequently added all EU countries to its "
Unfriendly Countries List". On 8 March, Hungary opposed imposing outright energy embargoes on Russia. Despite the issues, Hungary remained mostly neutral to the conflict, although it opposed harsh sanctions especially in the oil sector. Orbán, speaking at a meeting of the Hungarian governing party
Fidesz in
Balatonalmádi in September 2022, identified EU sanctions and restrictive measures against Russia as major causes for the
ongoing inflation surge and 'global economic war', and called for the lifting of EU sanctions by the end of the year. On 12 March 2024,
Rosatom CEO
Alexey Likhachev paid a visit to the Paks II Nuclear Power Plant, an expansion of the existing plant 100 km south of Budapest on the
Danube river. As of 2024, Russia provided roughly 75% of Hungary's natural gas, between 60 and 80% of its oil and all of its nuclear fuel.
Russian invasion of Ukraine "Silent expulsions" of diplomats In April 2018,
Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned in the
United Kingdom. As a response to government involvement in the attack, several countries expelled a total of 342 Russian diplomats. In April 2018, one Hungarian embassy staffer was expelled from Russia. Investigative journalists later revealed that Orbán's government coordinated the expulsion of the Russian diplomat with the Russian government: they chose to formally expel a diplomat who has already finished their mission and was preparing to return to Russia. After the Skripal incident, Orbán's government had not formally expelled any Russian diplomats, even when serious abuses of diplomatic immunity were found. Secret service was aware of the collaboration between the paramilitary organization and the Russian state agents, but could not take action because the mock combat activities did not violate any laws. The events escalated when police obtained a search warrant under the suspicion that the leader of the organization,
István Győrkös, was in possession of firearms illegally. When police attempted to execute the search warrant, István Győrkös shot and killed an officer. Several members of the organization were later convicted because of illegal possession of a large quantity of weapons and ammunition. The
GRU members involved in training with the group returned home after being informally asked to do so, without escalating a formal diplomatic incident between Russia and Hungary. == Russian media influence in Hungary ==