Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the 6th of May that Hungary has returned several million euros in cash and gold seized earlier this year from a convoy of the National Bank of Ukraine, Politico reports.
The release of the funds marks a normalization of relations between the two countries since Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán lost power in April elections. His successor, Peter Magyar, is also trying to improve relations with the European Union in order to secure the allocation of bloc funds to Budapest.
Zelensky, announcing the return of 35 million euros, 40 million dollars and nine kilograms of gold to the state bank on the X, said it was an important step in relations with Hungary. The bank’s president, Yuriy Katsion, thanked Hungary for its constructive approach, adding that the seizure of the funds was a violation of many international norms and rules of international cooperation.
The dispute began in early March, when Hungarian authorities in Budapest detained a Ukrainian convoy that was transporting cash and gold from Austria to Ukraine on behalf of the state bank. Seven Ukrainians were detained, to which Kyiv reacted furiously.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha accused Budapest of taking hostages and stealing the money,
calling the seizure an act of state terrorism and piracy.
The Orbán government did not budge, and a few days later the ruling Fidesz party introduced a law aimed at officially justifying the seizure and launched an investigation. The incident took place in the final weeks of Orbán’s power, during a tough pre-election campaign. However, since the elections, won by the Magyar, relations between Kyiv and Budapest have begun to soften.
Hungary has lifted its veto on a 90 billion euros EU loan to Ukraine, and tensions over the Druzhba oil pipeline, which carries Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary, have eased after oil supplies resumed.
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