Goulash: No, Ukraine Didn’t Use Hungarian Media Against Orbán; TVN Shifts to Polish Owners

FRESH FROM VSQUARE

FASTER THAN PIZZA DELIVERY: POLAND’S ONLINE DRUG MARKET IS OUT OF CONTROL

In Poland, getting mephedrone or other drugs delivered is easier than ordering a pizza — you don’t even have to leave your couch. Thanks to Russian Telegram channels, buyers have access to hundreds of dealers nationwide, offering everything from party drugs to harder substances, all at the tap of a screen. The secret sauce? Two popular Polish platforms: InPost’s parcel lockers and BLIK payments. InPost alone discovered half a ton of drugs in packages last year. While both platforms are aware of the issue and cooperate with authorities, their ability to track shipments is limited. A joint investigation by Polish media outlets, coordinated by FRONTSTORY.PL, found hundreds of thousands of online drug ads, revealing a massive underground trade that police simply can’t keep up with. Read this thrilling investigation here. 

CZECH INDUSTRY’S HIDDEN ROLE IN RUSSIA’S WAR MACHINE

Our Czech partner Investigace.cz has been doing groundbreaking reporting on Czech companies’ ties to Russia — and how Czech businessmen are managing to evade sanctions. This was evident in our translation of their earlier report on how Czech small arms ended up in the hands of Russian hunters, some of whom later died in Ukraine as snipers. The next article in this series, written by Kristina Vejnbender with The Insider’s Sergey Panov, reveals how Czech industrial CNC machines found their way into Russian factories manufacturing heavy weaponry, including the Almaz-Antey Corporation, which produces the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system. While the current Czech government is among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, in the years leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion, “even in 2020 and 2021, more than a tenth of Czech CNC machines, worth over a billion crowns, were sent to Russia,” the investigation shows.

SPICY SCOOPS

There is always a lot of information that we hear and find interesting and newsworthy but don’t publish as part of our investigative reporting — and share instead in this newsletter. 

POLAND’S AMERICAN-OWNED TVN SET TO TRANSFER TO POLISH OWNERSHIP

Three Polish bidders have advanced to the second round of bidding for TVN, Poland’s most influential private TV channel, which is being sold by its current owner, the American media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery, a source familiar with the process told me. We’ve been closely tracking this deal, especially since mid-2024, when it seemed that Viktor Orbán’s inner circle and Orlen ex-CEO Daniel Obajtek might attempt to acquire TVN — potentially turning it into a propaganda outlet aligned with Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party. We also covered how they failed. Later reports suggested that the Czech PPF Group could also be involved, possibly in cooperation with Orbán’s allies. However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk then announced that the government would place TVN and other key Polish media outlets on a list of strategic companies under state protection, preventing “Eastern influence” in their ownership. This move effectively blocked any acquisition attempt by Orbán’s circles. As things stand, TVN will likely end up in the hands of one of three Polish bidders who made it into the second round: Billionaire businessman Michał Sołowow, who has publicly confirmed his bid; a consortium led by Wirtualna Polska, which includes Rafał Brzoska, the owner of InPost (first reported by Radio ZET’s Mariusz Gierszewski, though they got a “no comment” from the bidders); and Grzegorz Hajdarowicz, businessman and founder of the Gremi Media group, whose involvement — previously unreported — came as a surprise. A Gremi International representative responded to our request for comment, stating that they do not disclose or comment on their investment plans. The source familiar with the bidding also told me that a foreign bidder was excluded from entering the second round: namely, the French Canal+ Group, which already operates a Polish joint venture with TVN. Another previously reported bidder, MFE-MediaForEurope (MFEB.MI) didn’t officially enter the race, per my source. The estimated price of TVN is around €1 billion. 

POLISH, HUNGARIAN ILLIBERALS TEAM UP WITH TRUMP ADMIN’S TOP THINK TANK ON EU’S FUTURE

As the Trump administration gradually implements The Heritage Foundation’s infamous Project 2025, it’s worth considering how Heritage’s stance on the EU is being shaped by illiberal Polish and Hungarian think tanks. I obtained an invitation from Heritage’s former vice president James J. Carafano to a closed-door workshop that reads: “The future of EU Treaty Reform will greatly impact transatlantic relations. Understanding how that might unfold is critical for those invested in a Europe that is whole, free, at peace, and prosperous. To that end, we have organized this important workshop on March 11 at 2 PM EST at The Heritage Foundation.” The workshop will focus on a new report titled “The Great Reset: Restoring Member State Sovereignty in the 21st Century,” prepared by Hungary’s Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) and Poland’s Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture. The report outlines two paths for reforming the EU, advocating for a looser, “free cooperation of sovereign nations as an alternative to the initiative to create a highly centralized European Superstate, launched in 2024 by the proposed EU Treaties amendments.” Ordo Iuris and MCC’s successful infiltration of Trump’s policy circles via Heritage — and its use of that platform to push an anti-Brussels agenda — is newsworthy in itself, but their controversial ties to Russia make it even more so.

While Ordo Iuris leaders have long denied any pro-Russian ties, they have also spent years networking with organizations that promote Kremlin narratives, such as Agenda Europe and the World Congress of Families (which is linked to Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev). MCC, led by Viktor Orbán’s political director Balázs Orbán, has also been linked to Russian influence in multiple cases. MCC’s main funding comes from dividend payments on Hungarian oil company MOL’s trade in Russian oil. In 2022, John Laughland, an MCC visiting fellow at the time, was briefly detained and interrogated in the UK on suspicion of spying for Russia. Most recently, a German investigation revealed that MCC’s Brussels-based magazine, The European Conservative, employed a journalist secretly working for Voice of Europe, a Kremlin-funded disinformation outlet with ties to Russian intelligence, dismantled in 2024 by a joint operation of European counterintelligence agencies. (MCC declined to comment on the report.)

THESE ARE THE RUSSIAN FOOTBALL CLUBS SPARED FROM EU SANCTIONS

Guess who saved them? It was, of course, the Orbán government. As the EU unanimously approved its 16th round of sanctions on Russia, the bloc’s most pro-Kremlin member once again managed to carve out exemptions from the original list. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó proudly announced that Hungary had successfully blocked sanctions against 27 individuals, including Patriarch Kirill, as well as what he called the “absurd and embarrassing” targeting of the Russian Olympic Committee and two Russian football clubs. The football clubs caught my attention, so I confirmed with an EU official that Szijjártó was referring to a November 2024 initiative by Estonia’s government proposing sanctions on CSKA Moscow and FC Rostov, both of which compete in the Russian Premier League. CSKA Moscow has deep ties to the Russian military — its nickname, “armeitsy” (army men), reflects its Soviet-era connection to the Red Army. Today, the club is owned by the state-controlled VEB.RF bank conglomerate (which is already sanctioned by both the EU and the U.S.; CSKA itself is also under U.S. sanctions).

It’s unclear why shielding Russian football clubs is in Hungary’s national interest, but there’s an interesting coincidence. Szijjártó’s closest friend, former Hungarian soccer star Balázs Dzsudzsák, spent much of the 2010s playing in the Russian Premier League, primarily for Dynamo Moscow — a club nicknamed “the cops,” originally affiliated with the NKVD and later the KGB. Dzsudzsák and Szijjártó share a very close bond: the now-retired soccer player appears in family photos with Szijjártó’s wife and children and is present at all of the minister’s key life events. This is far from the first time Hungarian diplomacy has worked to block Baltic sanctions initiatives. As we previously reported, in December, Hungary also derailed Latvia’s attempt to impose sanctions on Russian defense industry-linked oligarchs with ties to organized crime. And let’s also not forget how Hungary has been constantly fighting for the lifting of sanctions off of three oligarchs: Viatcheslav Kantor, Alisher Usmanov and Dmitry Mazepin (father to one of Formula 1’s worst drivers, Nikita Mazepin, with whom Szijjártó also met during one of his many trips to Moscow.)

ORBÁN’S REGIME LIED ABOUT HUNGARIAN MEDIA’S ROLE IN ALLEGED UKRAINIAN PLOT

With Trump’s return to power, Viktor Orbán’s government has adjusted its smear campaigns against independent journalists. Previously labeled as CIA or U.S. agents, independent journalists are now being accused of working for Ukraine. A few weeks ago, after the release of Direkt36’s investigative documentary The Dynasty on the Orbán family’s wealth, the government’s propaganda machine accused the nonprofit outlet — despite its entirely transparent funding — of being paid by Ukrainian intelligence, and even being part of a Ukrainian intelligence plot to discredit Orbán. Soon, independent media more broadly were accused of secretly receiving Ukrainian money. The claims were supposedly based on a closed-door briefing of Hungary’s national security committee, where MPs were informed of an alleged Ukrainian intelligence operation targeting Orbán. (Readers might recognize this move as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico enacted a similar stunt in January.) However, as Telex.hu later reported and the committee’s chairman confirmed, neither Direkt36 nor its documentary were mentioned at the hearing, which is to say the accusations were entirely fabricated to undermine the credibility of the film’s findings. But there is even more to the story. Multiple sources familiar with the main findings of this specific piece of intelligence confirmed to me that not a single Hungarian media outlet, journalist, or individual was identified in the report. Yes, not a single one. The whole smear campaign is a total fabrication.

Hungary’s foreign intelligence agency, the Information Office (IH), had only gathered information on Ukrainian intelligence’s apparent intent to launch a media campaign against Orbán but  identified no evidence of Hungarian involvement or financial ties. Sources suggested that if any media were involved, they were not Hungarian. One source also noted that even the specific intelligence on Ukraine’s intent was vague and lacked certain important concrete details. Despite this, Orbán’s propaganda machine turned it into a full-fledged conspiracy, falsely claiming that Hungarian journalists — especially those at Direkt36, VSquare’s Hungarian partner and my other affiliation — were involved. Meanwhile, the way this intelligence report was leaked and then weaponized against journalists has caused a stir within Hungary’s national security and intelligence community since, when government officials publicly disclosed that Hungarian intelligence had uncovered a supposed Ukrainian plot, they put IH’s sources and operations in Ukraine at risk, potentially even endangering lives. Moreover, the manipulation of an intelligence report for a political smear campaign also risks damaging Hungary’s relationships with international intelligence partners. (The Hungarian government did not respond to my request for comment.)

SECOND HELPINGS

We’d already reported but the story went on… here’s a second bite of our previous stories and scoops.

EU MEMBER STATES GANG UP AGAINST ORBÁN’S RUSSIA-STYLE FOREIGN AGENTS LAW. Two weeks ago, I reported that Central European EU member states were leading the charge against Hungary’s so-called “sovereignty protection” law, a Russia-style measure that violates EU law and targets NGOs, activists, and investigative journalists. Now, the opposition is growing, as more countries join the European Commission’s lawsuit against Hungary at the European Court of Justice. The Czech Republic was the first to officially join the lawsuit, and since then, one member state after another has followed suit. A campaign to rally support is being led by Reclaim’s Esther Martinez, who shared her assessment with me on who’s in, who might join, and who’s staying out. So far, nine countries have either officially signed on or are in the final stages of doing so: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway (the first non-EU country to join), Poland, and Sweden. The European Parliament is also backing the case. According to Esther, there’s strong hope that Ireland, Finland, and Latvia will join soon. France, Portugal, and Spain remain possibilities, albeit less certain, while Germany hasn’t decided yet.

GOVERNMENT ANGER AS BUDAPEST’S MINI-DUBAI PROJECT GETS DERAILED. One of the biggest scoops in this newsletter was the Grand Budapest project, an ambitious Emirati real estate development dubbed “mini-Dubai” (with no relation to the 2014 Wes Anderson film), which we first revealed in late 2023. A lot has happened since then, and as it stands now, the project has collapsed due to overwhelming public opposition and legal troubles. On the legal front, Budapest’s opposition leadership discovered they had an option to buy back the land on which Emirati investor Mohammed Alabbar’s Eagle Hills planned to build a 250-500 meter skyscraper and luxury district. It seems they successfully exercised this right, exploiting a sloppily drafted contract that the Hungarian government had signed with the investor. A government-connected source tells me this move infuriated Viktor Orbán so much that he banned his government from assigning future work to the law firm responsible for the contract — a firm closely linked to Minister of National Development Márton Nagy’s brother. Another government insider told me that Antal Rogán, Orbán’s minister overseeing intelligence agencies and government propaganda (who is also under U.S. sanction for corruption), was actually strongly against the project because internal polling showed that even Fidesz voters were largely opposed to the development. After a decade of anti-Muslim rhetoric, convincing them that a massive state-owned plot should be handed over to a Muslim investor proved impossible. (Hungary’s government did not respond to my request for comment.)

ORBÁN’S PROPAGANDA IN DISARRAY. Dissatisfaction is also growing within Viktor Orbán’s government over the poor performance of its propaganda machine, as opposition leader Péter Magyar and his surging TISZA party continue to lead in the polls. I’ve previously reported on Orbán’s ordered shake-up of state propaganda, which led to dismissals and restructuring, but I’ve now learned even more: A government-connected source told me that a high-ranking Fidesz leader recently dismissed Origo, the main pro-government online news site, as “completely worthless, besides the pictures of titties” (a reference to Origo’s increasing reliance on erotic content to counter declining traffic). Meanwhile, Fidesz leadership reportedly views Megafon, the party’s key social media propaganda operation, as “simply tragic.” “They laugh at them and think their own propaganda is shit,” the source added. At the same time, smaller pro-government outlets with even less reach and influence are on the brink of collapse. The once-prominent Magyar Hírlap, which has already shut down its print edition, and Pesti Srácok, a fringe pro-Kremlin propaganda and video site, are both at risk of shutting down entirely — unless they can convince the government to keep funding them.

MORE FROM OUR PARTNERS

PAID HATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA – POLITICIANS’ ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS CONTINUE. Attacks on journalists and media are reaching a new level both in Slovakia and Hungary, according to new research by ICJK, in collaboration with the Budapest-based Political Capital Institute. (Text in Slovak.)

STUDENT PROTESTS SUCCESSFULLY OUST “REMODELED” UNIVERSITY’S RECTOR. Atlatszo.hu’s article tells the story how students and teachers at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), one of the subjects of the Hungarian government’s education privatization reform, revolted against what they saw as autocratic leadership. (Text in English.)

PUTIN’S SECRETARY VISITS PRAGUE — WHILE ORDINARY RUSSIANS REMAIN BANNED FROM ENTERING CZECHIA. Investigace.cz’s article reveals that a staff member from Putin’s presidential office has had no trouble traveling to Budapest and Prague while ordinary Russians are barred from entering the Czech Republic. (Text in Czech.)

This was VSquare’s 37th 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