Hungary–Russia relations

Hungary–Russia relations are the bilateral foreign relations between the two countries, Hungary and Russia. During the Second World War, the Soviet army occupied Hungary, and in 1948 the Soviet Union took full control of the country. It became part of the Warsaw Pact military alliance and the Comecon economic union. Relations between the two countries were strained in 1956 due to the Soviet military intervention in the revolution occurring in Hungary. Hungary expelled its communist government during the Revolutions of 1989, and diplomatic relations with Russia were restored after the breakup of the USSR in 1991.

Hungary has an embassy in Moscow and two consulate-generals (in Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg). Russia has an embassy in Budapest and a consulate-general in Debrecen.

Both countries are full members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Earlier contacts
In the thirteenth century, a Hungarian Dominican friar named Julian traveled to the East in search of the ancestral home of the Hungarians.

Hungary and Imperial Russia to 1917
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 under Lajos Kossuth gained strong support across Hungary from 1848 to 1849. The young Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph appealed to Tsar Nicholas I for aid. He sent a large force that had been based in nearby Congress Poland and it suppressed the revolt. However, the military intervention was unpopular among the ordinary soldiers and the liberal officers of the Russian army. It was sharply criticized by such democrats as Alexander Herzen and Nikolay Chernyshevsky.

Hungary and the Soviet Union
Hungary was an ally of Germany during World War II. When Germany declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941, Hungary tried to remain neutral. When the controversial bombing of Kassa occurred, the government quickly declared the state of war existed between Hungary and the USSR, without receiving the consent of the Parliament.

The Hungarian People's Republic (Magyar Népköztársaság) was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the control of the Soviet Union. Following the Soviet occupation of Hungary after World War II, the Soviets set up a police system that persecuted all opposition through direct force and propaganda, hoping this would lead to a Communist victory in the elections of 1946. Despite these efforts, the Hungarian Communist Party came in third place in the elections, prompting the Soviets to directly impose a puppet government the following year. The next few years were spent consolidating power, using the ÁVH secret police to suppress political opposition through intimidation, false accusations, imprisonment and torture. The worst of the repression came under the rule of Mátyás Rákosi. At the height of his rule, Rákosi developed a strong cult of personality. Dubbed the "bald murderer", Rákosi imitated Stalinist political and economic programs, resulting in Hungary experiencing one of the harshest dictatorships in Europe. He described himself as "Stalin's best Hungarian disciple" and "Stalin's best pupil". After Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" denouncing Stalin's cult of personality, Rákosi was ultimately removed from power and replaced by the reformist Imre Nagy, who attempted to take Hungary out of the Soviet bloc. This led to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, which was brutally crushed by the Soviets. Following the failed revolution, the Soviets instituted János Kádár as the leader of Hungary. After an initial period of repressions against the revolutionaries, Kádár implemented a more moderate form of communism, which he referred to as "Goulash Communism." He would rule until 1988, when he was removed from power just before the "revolution" that ended Communism in Hungary.

Hungary and the Russian Federation
After 1991, Hungarian-Russian relations improved steadily. This was due in part to the election of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in 2010 and the announcement of his foreign relations plan, the "Eastern Opening Policy." Created in opposition to Hungary's Western coalitions such as the European Union (EU), NATO, and the United Nations (UN), the Eastern Opening plan heavily prioritized Russia as a viable ally, and efforts were taken to secure that tight relationship throughout 2013–2014. One major proof of this is the bilateral agreement between the two nations over the Paks Nuclear Power Plant in Hungary, which called into the question the risk of Hungary becoming financially dependent on Russia for more than a few decades.

Following the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in 2014, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán rejected imposing sanctions on Russia despite EU pressure. This has led outside officials in the EU and NATO to accuse Hungary as a "Trojan Horse", acting ultimately in the interests of Russia.

In 2015 and 2017, Vladimir Putin visited Budapest to meet with Orbán to discuss bilateral ties. As a response to the reaction to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in the United Kingdom, in April 2018, one Hungarian embassy staffer was expelled from Russia. In May 2019, concerned over tightening Hungarian relations with China and Russia, the Trump administration hosted Orbán in Washington, D.C., raising criticism from the EU and UN.

On 21 January 2021, Hungary became the first European Union country to approve the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

In July 2021, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) delegations of both countries voiced a protest against Ukraine's "Indigenous law", which leaves Russophones apart.

Following the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hungary, as an EU member state, imposed minor sanctions on Russia, while Russia subsequently added all EU countries to its "Unfriendly Countries List". On 8 March, Hungary opposed imposing outright energy embargoes on Russia. Despite the issues, Hungary remained mostly neutral to the conflict, although it opposed harsh sanctions especially in the oil sector.

Orbán, speaking at a meeting of the Hungarian governing party Fidesz in Balatonalmádi in September 2022, identified EU sanctions and restrictive measures against Russia as major causes for the ongoing inflation surge and 'global economic war', and called for the lifting of EU sanctions by the end of the year.

On 12 March 2024, Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev paid a visit to the Paks II Nuclear Power Plant, an expansion of the existing plant 100km south of Budapest on the Danube river. As of 2024, Russia provided roughly 75% of Hungary’s natural gas, between 60 to 80% of its oil and all of its nuclear fuel.

LGBT issues
Both countries legalized homosexuality while opposing same-sex marriages. Russia outlawed pro-LGBT messaging directed towards minors in 2013, while Hungary banned its schools from promoting LGBT material towards children in June 2021, which was met with condemnation from the European Union.