Hungary alleges plot to blow up gas pipeline ahead of election

Hungary alleges plot to blow up gas pipeline ahead of election

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban summoned an urgent session of the National Defence Council following the discovery of explosives near a critical gas pipeline that delivers Russian energy to the country. The explosives were found in a border region with Serbia, intensifying tensions as Orban’s ruling party faces significant challenges in recent opinion polls before a pivotal election next Sunday.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar criticized Orban, claiming he was orchestrating “panic-mongering” with the aid of “Russian advisers.” This accusation followed warnings from security analysts about a potential “false flag” operation that could be attributed to Ukraine. Orban, who has maintained close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has consistently opposed EU efforts to cut off Russian energy imports since the invasion of Ukraine.

Recent intelligence assessments suggest a possible coordinated attack, either on Hungarian or Serbian soil, designed to shift public sentiment in favor of Orban’s Fidesz party. Serbian President Alexander Vucic, a long-time ally of Orban, informed him of the find on Sunday morning. Serbian military personnel uncovered two rucksacks filled with explosives and detonators near Tresnjevac village, located in the Kanjiza district and about 20km from the TurkStream pipeline’s entry point into Hungary.

“Our units found an explosive of devastating power,” Vucic stated on Instagram. “I told PM Orban we would keep him updated on the investigation.”

Hungary relies on the TurkStream pipeline for between five and eight billion cubic metres of Russian gas annually, a vital resource shared with Slovakia. Balint Pasztor, head of the Vojvodina Hungarian Association, and another key ally of Orban shared a Facebook post asserting that if the investigation confirms the pipeline was not the main target, the attack was aimed at destabilizing his leadership.

Fidesz’s campaign has centered on anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, with Orban highlighting low energy prices in Hungary as a result of affordable Russian oil and gas. The pipeline routes—oil through Ukraine, gas via the Balkans—have become focal points in his political strategy. Orban now accuses a “Kyiv-Brussels-Berlin” alliance of conspiring to prevent his party from securing cheap Russian fuel and to install a “puppet” leader in the upcoming vote.

He claims a government led by the opposition would force Hungary into a broader European conflict with Russia. Orban has previously accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of enforcing an “oil blockade,” as Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline, crossing Ukraine, has not arrived since early January. Ukraine attributes the damage to a Russian attack, expecting repairs by mid-April.

“We had some solid preliminary information about this operation, including details about the place and possible timing,” said former Hungarian counter-intelligence officer Peter Buda. “It’s clear that Ukraine’s interests aren’t at stake here. An operation like this would help Orban before the election by influencing public opinion in his favor.”

On 2 April, Hungarian analyst Andras Racz warned on Facebook that a “fake attack” on the TurkStream pipeline might be staged in Serbia, with Ukrainian origins. The Hungarian government maintains the threat is genuine, with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto writing on Facebook: “In the past few days and weeks, we’ve seen it all—the Ukrainians organised an oil blockade, then tried to impose a total energy blockade by launching drones at the TurkStream pipeline while it was still on Russian territory. Now we have today’s incident, with Serbian colleagues finding explosives capable of blowing up the pipeline.”

Magyar has further alleged that Orban and Vucic colluded to stage the latest event, aiming to sway voter perceptions ahead of the election. While no formal accusations of Ukrainian involvement have been made, a Serbian source hinted the investigation’s findings could emerge as early as Monday.