The Hungarian authorities detained two armored vehicles carrying a large amount of cash and arrested seven Ukrainian citizens. Kyiv considers this action illegal and describes it as "taking hostages."
According to Medianews.az, Hungary's National Tax and Customs Administration announced on March 6 that seven Ukrainian citizens were detained on suspicion of money laundering and two armored cash-in-transit vehicles were confiscated.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha emphasized that the detained individuals are employees of "Oschadbank," Ukraine's state bank. They were stopped in Hungarian territory while transporting money from Austria to Ukraine.
The minister wrote on social network "X" that this incident is "state terror and racketeering." According to Sybiha, there is no precise information about the fate of those detained.
Based on a statement released by "Oschadbank," the confiscated armored vehicles contained 40 million US dollars, 35 million euros, and approximately 9 kilograms of gold. The value of the gold at current prices is about 1.5 million dollars.
The bank stated that this amount was part of ordinary financial transfers carried out between state banks.
According to some reports, the vehicles were detained in the center of Budapest, near the area where law enforcement agencies are located. Official information about the exact location of the bank employees' detention has not yet been provided.
The incident has further escalated the already tense relations between Hungary and Ukraine. The two countries are in dispute over the "Druzhba" oil pipeline that runs through Ukrainian territory.
Oil transportation through this pipeline has been suspended since January 27. Ukraine explains this by infrastructure damage caused by a strike from a Russian drone and states that repair work is risky.
Hungary accuses Kyiv of deliberately delaying the supply of Russian oil and has announced that it will take countermeasures until the oil flow is restored.