Overview
- Seven Oschadbank employees detained in Budapest on March 5–6 were released and returned to Ukraine, but Hungary is keeping roughly $40 million, €35 million and 9 kilograms of gold as evidence in a money‑laundering probe.
- Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry says the detainees were handcuffed for 28 hours, transported blindfolded, denied legal and consular access, and that a diabetic was forcibly injected after losing consciousness; Hungary’s counterterrorism unit carried out the operation using an armored vehicle and heavy weapons.
- Kyiv summoned Hungary’s ambassador, filed a formal protest alleging violations of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and demanded the immediate return of the vehicles and valuables.
- The National Bank of Ukraine will commission an independent international audit of the cash‑transport process and is preparing coordinated appeals to European financial and political institutions.
- Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Hungary will investigate why the money was in the country, while Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó raised unproven claims of a link to a “military mafia”; a Fidesz lawmaker submitted a bill to enable long‑term retention of the seized assets, which Ukraine condemned as unlawful.