Goulash: Orbán’s Influence; Kremlin Leaks; Election Meddling – Our Best of 2024
Welcome to the first edition of Goulash in the new year! This issue is a special treat: a collection of 15 of our best stories from 2024, including collaborations and stunning articles from our core partners. We’ve compiled impactful investigations, featuring highlights from our Kremlin Leaks series, exposés on Viktor Orbán’s influence, Russian espionage, disinformation campaigns, foreign meddling in European elections, and more.
These hard-hitting, cross-border stories made waves last year, and we’re proud to revisit them as we step into 2025. Next week, we’ll return with our regular serving of original scoops and fresh investigations from Central Europe and beyond. Enjoy!
– Szabolcs Panyi, VSquare’s Central Europe investigative editor
The name VSquare comes from V4, an abbreviation of the Visegrád countries group. Over the years, VSquare has become the leading regional voice of investigative journalism in Central Europe. We are non-profit, independent, and driven by a passion for journalism
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VSQUARE’S BEST OF 2024
MAPPING RUSSIA’S WAR MACHINE ON NATO’S DOORSTEP
My personal favorite, thanks to its cool visualizations, was a regional investigation that used high-resolution satellite images to map developments in Russia’s military bases near Poland and the Baltic countries. Among others, it revealed GRU special forces in Kaliningrad training for sabotage and a growing nuclear threat in Belarus.
HOW THE FAR-RIGHT USED TIKTOK TO SPREAD LIES AND CONSPIRACIES
In 2024, TikTok became a powerful tool for disinformation, with far-right groups using it to spread lies and conspiracies. This international investigation, which also covered Romania, was published months before the platform was used to nearly hijack Romania’s presidential election.
LEAKED FILES FROM PUTIN’S TROLL FACTORY: HOW RUSSIA MANIPULATED EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
Our joint investigation with Estonia’s Delfi, based on leaked Kremlin documents, revealed how a coordinated Russian campaign supported far-right parties in the 2024 European Parliament elections while spreading disinformation on social media to undermine support for Ukraine.
HOW ORBÁN FLOODED CENTRAL EUROPE WITH MILLIONS OF ONLINE ADS DURING ELECTION SEASON
Not only Russia but also Hungary was caught meddling in foreign elections, as our investigation uncovered Viktor Orbán’s government using targeted online ads to influence voters in Central Europe during the 2023 election season.
FROM KYIV TO RIGA: RUSSIAN SABOTAGE OPERATIONS IN THE BALTICS
In the Baltics, something sinister is going on, as our local partners’ investigation provided concrete evidence of Russian sabotage operations targeting critical infrastructure in the Baltic region. With GRU operatives and covert networks, Russia persistently seeks to destabilize these EU and NATO member states on the frontlines.
THE DECLINE OF POLAND’S COASTAL FISHERS AND THE CATCH 22 ON THE BALTIC
This multiple award-nominated environmental story with stunning photos uncovered the extinction of Baltic coastal fishers. Blame is cast on familiar culprits like Brussels regulators, industrial trawlers, and pollution, but also on unexpected factors such as conservationists, gray seals, and a parasitic roundworm.
THE PUTIN MAGNET: THE GRU SPY AND THE WOMEN WHO LOVED HIM
VSquare editor-in-chief Anna Gielewska’s major story of summer 2024 revealed how Russian spy Pavel Rubtsov, posing as Spanish journalist Pablo González, used his relationship with his Polish journalist girlfriend to forge connections in Warsaw’s media and activist circles. A follow-up investigation by The Insider uncovered that after Rubtsov/González participated in a historic prisoner swap, he was greeted at the Moscow airport by a high-ranking GRU officer.
POLAND’S MOST WANTED MAN ENJOYS SECRET LUXURY LIFE IN BUDAPEST
We revealed how Daniel Obajtek, the former head of Poland’s Orlen oil company, was hiding in a luxury Budapest apartment as Polish authorities searched for him. Months later, this proved to be a prelude to another scandal, when former Polish deputy justice minister Marcin Romanowski, accused of corruption and abuse of office, fled to Hungary and was granted political asylum.
HOW THE SLOVAK LEADER ASKED FOR THE KREMLIN AND ORBÁN’S HELP (AND GOT IT)
Together with the Investigative Center of Ján Kuciak (ICJK) we also exposed how Orbán assisted his Slovak ally, Peter Pellegrini, by acting as a middleman between him and the Kremlin in 2020. Pellegrini secured a pre-election visit to Moscow to appeal to Slovak voters, and while he lost that parliamentary election, he has since gone on to win Slovakia’s presidential election…
HOW FAKE ACCOUNTS SPREAD A HOAX IN SLOVAKIA’S ELECTION RACE
…which election was marred by a viral hoax targeting pro-Western opposition candidate Ivan Korčok, falsely accusing him of collaborating with the communist StB. As ICJK discovered, the smear campaign was driven by fake Facebook accounts, highlighting the continued manipulation of public opinion to undermine democratic processes in Slovakia.
KREMLIN LEAKS: SECRET FILES REVEAL HOW PUTIN PRE-RIGGED HIS REELECTION
Speaking of presidential elections: leaked documents obtained by our Estonian partner, Delfi, revealed how the Kremlin orchestrated Putin’s 2024 reelection by constructing a vast propaganda network, implementing internet censorship machinery, and deploying tools for information warfare.
KREMLIN LEAKS: HOW PUTIN’S REGIME IS BUILDING AI SURVEILLANCE OPERATIONS
Another part of our Kremlin Leaks series exposed how Vladimir Putin’s regime is funding a massive AI-powered surveillance operation, using facial recognition to target “disloyal and destructive” individuals. This system, tested on football fans during the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, was later deployed to arrest attendees at Alexei Navalny’s funeral.
EXPOSED: ORBÁN’S INNER CIRCLE LINKED TO ACQUISITION OF MAJOR EUROPEAN TV NETWORK
When a Portuguese businessman with strong ties to the Hungarian government acquired Euronews, much of the funding secretly came from a Hungarian state capital fund, as revealed by Direkt36 and its international partners. Leaked internal documents further exposed the political motivations behind the investment. Months after the investigation, the CEO of Euronews was abruptly fired and replaced with a new leader known for outspoken right-wing sympathies.
WHY THE EU FAILS TO DELIVER ON ARMS PLEDGES TO UKRAINE
Together with media partners across Europe, we assessed the gap between the European Commission’s promise to produce up to 1.7 million rounds of 155 mm NATO-standard artillery ammunition by the end of 2024 and the reality of production, estimated at only 600,000 rounds. Our investigation highlighted key issues like insufficient factory capacity, raw material shortages, and inadequate funding, with a regional focus on Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
KREMLIN LEAKS: HOW PUTIN TURNED THE RED CROSS INTO A TOOL OF PROPAGANDA AND WAR
Our Kremlin Leaks series also revealed how the Putin administration co-opted the Russian Red Cross, compromising its neutrality to serve Russia’s propaganda machine. A follow-up exposed its partnership with an organization under Western sanctions for “re-educating” deported Ukrainian children. Despite pressure, the International Red Cross refused to cut ties with its Russian chapter.
This was VSquare’s 33rd Goulash newsletter. I hope you gobbled it up. Come back soon for another serving.
Still hungry? Check the previous newsletter issues here!
SZABOLCS PANYI & THE VSQUARE TEAM
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VSquare’s Budapest-based lead investigative editor in charge of Central European investigations, Szabolcs Panyi is also a Hungarian investigative journalist at Direkt36. He covers national security, foreign policy, and Russian and Chinese influence. He was a European Press Prize finalist in 2018 and 2021.