Russia has launched a disinformation campaign aimed at helping Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban win parliamentary elections in April, with the Kremlin approving a plan by the government-linked Russian media consultancy Social Design Agency, which is under sanctions.
This is reported by the Financial Times, citing sources.
The plan proposes to strengthen the position of Hungary’s ruling “Fidesz” party by massively flooding social media with posts created in Russia and published by influential Hungarians.
The campaign presents Orban as the only candidate capable of preserving Hungary’s sovereignty and communicating with world leaders on an equal footing. The proposal was prepared for the Kremlin by the Social Design Agency late last year, and has been seen by FT journalists.
It is proposed to pit Orban — “a strong leader with influential friends” — against his main rival Peter Magyar, who is described as “a puppet of Brussels, without external support”. Magyar has become the most serious contender for the post of prime minister, which could end Orban’s 16-year rule in the elections on April 12.
The plan calls for “information attacks” against Magyar, whose “Tisza” party is leading its rivals in opinion polls. The campaign is to portray “Tisza” as a party divided by “incompetence, internal conflicts and ulterior motives”, focusing on controversial party members and portraying Magyar as an EU puppet.
The independent Hungarian publication “VSquare” reported over the weekend that three officers from Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency had been sent to the Russian embassy in Budapest. Magyar, who has previously tried to avoid straining relations with Russia, called for their expulsion, saying: “Russians, go home,” echoing the slogan of the 1956 anti-communist uprising.
According to sources, the Russian operatives are likely working for Putin’s deputy chief of staff Sergei Kirienko, who previously ran similar Social Design Agency campaigns in other countries.
In 2024, the US, UK and several other Western countries added this agency and its leadership to sanctions lists for conducting a large-scale online campaign called Doppelgänger, which spread fake news and deepfakes created using artificial intelligence to incite anti-Ukrainian sentiment.
Social Design Agency began analyzing Hungarian news and think tank reports in February to find content ideas. Its staff identified about 50 pro-Orbán figures, as well as about 30 opposition figures, through whom relevant content could be distributed.
Anti-Ukrainian narratives have surged on Hungarian social media in recent days. For example, news of the detention of Ukrainian tax collectors by Hungarian authorities was accompanied by fake images of suspects and money in an article by the pro-Orbán tabloid Ripost.hu. The Facebook post garnered 130 000 reactions in a few days, most of them from foreign users, which is unusual for Hungarian social media.
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